Relevance of management practices for support of Brazilian farming business growth and the regional development

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October 2015
Paper author(s): 
Antonio Bliska Jr.; Flavia Maria de Mello Bliska; Ricardo Firetti; Patricia Helena Nogueira Turco; Fabio Ricardo Ferreira Correa; Felipe Augusto Batoni de Souza; Paulo Ademar Martins Leal
Topic: 
Agricultural - Natural Resource Economics
Macroeconomics - Economic growth - Monetary Policy
Microeconomics - Competition - Productivity
Year: 
2015

In Brazil, the management of the farm is a practice hardly used. Much of producer time - rural businessman - is spent on technical issues and tasks related to the production process. Administrative aspects are often relegated to the background. Planning, acquisition of information and knowledge, and development of relationship strategies with customers, society and staff - employees or relatives - are harmed, which can compromise the activity. Identifying the level of management of farms and especially the weak points of their management systems, can help farmers to turn into rural entrepreneurs, regardless of the size of his estate. It can also guide cooperatives, producer associations, public or private organizations for technical assistance and rural extension, as industry inputs as well as guide the planning of sectoral public policies. The aim of this study was to identify the management levels of coffee production segments and vegetables, and analyze its relationship with land ownership, production systems and socioeconomic characteristics, cultural, and soil and climate, of their producing areas. We used the Identification Method of Management Degree - MIGG. The results of 428 questionnaires applied from 2010 to 2015 corroborate the thesis that despite the technical expertise in cultivation, the management of the agricultural business is still, in most cases, primitive and intuitive. On farms with lower degree of management, decision-making are not based on methods that allow for the systematic reproduction processes. Of those presenting high levels of management, management practices were integrated into modern farming practices, regardless of the size of the farm. In the coffee segment, with large sample, in the West region of Bahia state and Cerrado of Minas Gerais state, the management degrees are high and production processes - based on intensive use of modern technology - are quite homogeneous, accompanied by yields and very high quality compared to other coffee regions. Such practices have contributed to the increased competitiveness of those farms and to the development of those regions. 

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