Land concentration in the semi-arid region is extremely high and results from the historical context of the occupation process. In the 1960s, the question of land distribution in Brazil and the need for a regional development policy promoted debates and public policies, such as the development of irrigated agriculture by means of public irrigation perimeters and the interaction between settled families and agricultural entrepreneurs. However, this proposal failed in a great number of irrigated perimeters. The research problem of this thesis is to analyze the process of land concentration in irrigated perimeters using the case study of the Jaíba Project Stage I. The hypothesis that guides this study is based on the argument that only a few producers subsisted, i.e., those who were able to meet the demand of a certain niche market and, as a result, purchased the land lots of those who decided not to cultivate the land they had received. Research findings suggest that failures in the selection process of settlers and indebtedness were the main reasons why many settlers gave up, creating an environment that favored the sale of received land lots by means of an informal process of rights transfer, which reconfigured the original occupation of the settlement. The original goal was abandoned and a process of irrigated land concentration started to take place, backed either by settlers who were able to cultivate crops or by regional farmers who used the irrigated perimeter as an alternative for the development of fruit culture in the semiarid region by taking advantage of the informal land market.