Eggplant cultivation: An analysis of Competitiveness in the humid Caribbean

Abstract

Competitiveness defined as the ability of companies to reach the market and stay in it within the framework of competition, is a necessity for any productive sector. When reviewing the literature about the competitiveness of agricultural production, no study was found that is applied to a species such as the eggplant and in response to this, a study was carried out that aimed to analyze the competitiveness of eggplant production in the humid Caribbean region. The information was obtained from a survey applied to a sample of 62 farmers selected by simple random sampling. The theoretical framework was the competitiveness of Porter 1990. As analysis techniques, descriptive statistics and measures of central tendency were applied, such as the average and the mode. The results allow to understand that the production of vegetables presents competitiveness which is appreciated by the return indicators, which allow to recover the investment and generate surpluses. However, there are problems in the integrity of the chain and the distribution of added value among the different actors is unequal, with a great economic advantage for the intermediary, who appropriates 62% of the difference between the price received by the farmer and the consumer. that the consumer pays, this is an element that inhibits competitiveness