Performance and Productive Diversity of Agriculture in Mountain Environments

Abstract

<p><strong>Background:</strong> The mountainous regions of the state of Rio de Janeiro, due to the way they were colonized, their land structures, and their technical, cultural and climatic conditions, offer unique conditions, not only for the formation of unique environments and characteristic products, but also for the development productive diversity that can provide greater efficiency and agricultural stability. <strong>Objective:</strong> This study aims to evaluate the performance of the agricultural sector of eighty-five municipalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with regard to three productive variables: cultivated area in hectares, number of different crops produced, and total revenue in Brazilian Reais, for the calendar year 2015. <strong>Methodology:</strong> Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was chosen for this analysis, because it allows the computation from these input (cultivated area) and output (number of crops and revenue) variables of an efficiency index for each municipality. <strong>Results</strong><strong>:</strong> A dispersion plot of efficiency against the altitude of the administrative seat of the municipalities revealed that 68.23 % of the municipalities lay in the two quadrants corresponding to low altitude, low efficiency and high altitude, high efficiency, indicating a positive correlation of efficiency with altitude. Of the twelve efficient municipalities, eleven practice agriculture in mountain environments, at altitudes ranging from 355 to 871 m.<strong> Implications.</strong> Of the twelve efficient municipalities, eleven practice agriculture in mountain environments at altitudes ranging from 355 to 871 m. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> These results support the supposition that greater agrobiodiversity, as found in the mountainous regions of the state of Rio de Janeiro, contributes to greater agricultural efficiency.<strong></strong></p>