SOCIOECONOMICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AGROECOSYSTEMS WITH DUAL PURPOSE CATTLE IN THE THE PAPALOAPAN REGION, VERACRUZ, MEXICO

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to characterize the socioeconomic and technological components present in cattle in agro dual purpose of the area of the Papaloapan, Veracruz, Mexico. A survey was designed and implemented semi-structured interviews with producers in the Local Livestock Associations and cattle ranches of the 21 municipalities that make up the region under study. The variables were included social, technical and marketing. The sample size of 405 was producers who account for 4% of the total number of farmers in the region. We used cluster analysis, descriptive statistics and contingency tables. The cluster analysis, according to the variables considered, allow characterizing the producers (no groups): traditional, transitional and business. The age for these groups of farmers was 53±13, 54±15 and 56±12 years, and the animal charges were 42.8±38.9, 154.1±88.3 and 123.8±93.5, respectively. In general, the aim was zootechnical dual purpose cattle (86.9%), with extensive grazing pasture for free (98%) as the dominant system and a pattern of racial Swiss crosses x Cebu (79.8%) as the most representative.