Benchmarks for Milk Production Systems in the Pernambuco Agreste Region, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

-The objective of this work was to identify and assess the technological, zootechnical and socioeconomic profiles and identify and quantify benchmarks for dairy cattle production systems, in a nonexperimental approach, aiming to contribute to the sustainability and competitiveness of dairy farming in the Pernambuco Agreste region, northeastern Brazil. Thirty-six milk production systems of family and corporate farming were evaluated during twelve months, in order to identify and quantify the benchmarks. The systems were characterized regarding their size and technological, zootechnical and economic profiles. The correlation coefficients of the return rate on invested capital were assessed and regression equations were developed for each indicator, according to four scenarios of annual return rates (4, 6, 8 and 10%). The indicators evaluated were milk production per dairy cows, milk production per area, average price of milk, effective operational cost, total operating cost, total cost per price of milk and profitability. The dairy farming in the Pernambuco Agreste region pays the production costs, but tends to a not adequate remuneration of family labor and a need of external capital input for replacement of the assets. The productivity of production factors area and animals showed higher correlation with cost-effectiveness, denoting the need for increase the production through increases in land area and milk productivity per dairy cow. The identification and quantification of benchmarks may help to identify the weak points of dairy farming in the Agreste region, making it sustainable and competitive.Keywords: Milk production costs. Milk production Economy. Economic indicators. Size indicators. Zootechnical indicators. INDICADORES REFERÊNCIA (BENCHMARKS) DE SISTEMAS DE PRODUÇÃO DE LEITE DE VACAS NO AGRESTE PERNAMBUCANORESUMO -Objetivou-se levantar e avaliar os perfis tecnológicos, zootécnicos e socioeconômicos, identificar e quantificar indicadores referência, para sistemas de produção de bovinos de leite, de caráter não experimental, de forma a contribuir para a sustentabilidade e competitividade da pecuária de leite na mesorregião do Agreste pernambucano. Para identificar e quantificar os indicadores referência foram avaliados durante doze meses, trinta e seis sistemas de produção de leite da agricultura familiar e empresarial. Os sistemas foram caracterizados em relação ao perfil tecnológico e aos indicadores de tamanho, zootécnicos e econômicos. Foram determinados os coeficientes de correlação com a taxa de remuneração do capital investido e geradas equações de regressão, para cada indicador, em função de quatro cenários da taxa de remuneração do capital (4, 6, 8 e 10% ao ano). Os indicadores correlacionados foram: produção de leite/vacas em lactação; produção de leite/área; preço médio do leite; custo operacional efetivo, custo operacional total e custo total / preço do leite e lucratividade. A pecuária leiteira no Agreste pernambucano, paga os custos mensais, mas a tendência é a não remuneração ade...

Nutritional and performance viability of cactus Opuntia-based diets with different concentrate levels for Girolando lactating dairy cows

“…Dairy cattle production is one of the few economically possible activities in the semiarid regions of Brazilian northeast, in which feeding the heard is characterized by the usage of cultivated forage and native vegetation [1]. The prevailing production system is characterized by smallholders system with an average of the productive area of 37 ha [2]. Nevertheless, the reduced size of the property has limited the production of forage, thus causing difficulties in the increase of milk productivity per area.…”

<i>Orelha de Elefante Mexicana</i> (<i>Opuntia stricta</i> [Haw.] Haw.) spineless cactus as an option in crossbred dairy cattle diet

“…This livestock system characterizes the semi-arid regions of the Brazilian northeast, and one of its few viable economic activities is dairy production (Oliveira et al, 2016).…”

Association between technical and economic performance indexes and dairy farm profitability

“…This disparity may be explained by the sample containing a non-random selection of milk producers in the region under study. Therefore, while these farms are not necessarily representative of the entire dairy industry or specific dairy regions in Brazil, they provide information regarding the identification of appropriate benchmarks in heterogeneous areas that can explain differences in efficiency among farms and can be applied to other areas (Fassio et al, 2006;Oliveira et al, 2016;Pereira et al, 2016).…”