Classification and characterization of bovine milk producers in the Biblian canton, Cañar province, Ecuador

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Biblián canton, a region of Ecuador with a dairy tradition, which contributes significantly to the national economy. A sample of 232 production units was used with the purpose of classify and characterize the producers of this region, according to a set of variables related to milk production, to carry it out, the two-stage automatic clustering method and a selection strategy among various cluster alternatives were applied, the variables considered were: years dedicated to dairy production, technical training, product sales temperature, daily sales volume, milking type, production per hectare, percentage of cows in production, most used labor, type of pasture, and producer education level. Three producer groups  were  identified,  G1  and  G2, of similar magnitude (42.2 and 41.4%), with G2 having the poorest characteristics. In G1 everyone has technical training while in G2 none do, G1 sells a higher average volume of milk, G1=125.62 L.day-1 compared to G2=81.65 L.day-1and also has a slight superiority in production per hectare, G1=18.11 L.ha-1 y

14.05 L.ha-1 for G2. They are similar in the proportion of cows in production, (84 and 82%) and equal in the temperature of sale of the product (Hot), in the type of milking (Manual), predominance of family labor and low educational level of the producer. G3, smaller in size (16.4%), showed a clear superiority whit a production of 330.34 L.day-1, it is the only group that has producers who use mechanical milking (65.8%) and sell day production cold (78.9%), almost all have technical training (97.4%), the hired worker prevails and a higher educational level for the producer. The results found reveal that in the Biblián canton the use of technology is limited and the main variables to intervene to effectively impact the milk production system are training, cooling and mechanized milking.