Socioeconomic and productive characterization of dual-purpose farms oriented to milk production in a subtropical region of Mexico

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the socioeconomic, production characteristics and milk production cost of dual-purpose farms (DPF) oriented to milk production in a subtropical region of Central Mexico. The study focused on ten DPF that produce milk all year round, to gather socioeconomic characteristics of farmers (age, family structure, education level), farm resources (land holding, herd structure, infrastructure, management) and economic information during the year 2008. Family labour (FL) covers 66% of labour needs. The average milk production cost was US$0.21, fluctuating from US$0.19 to US$0.31 during the rainy and dry season, respectively. Supplements and hired labour (HL) accounted for 48 and 35% of milk production cost, respectively. Milk production generated daily incomes that covered daily operation costs of farms, as well as the economic needs of the farming family. Calves represented important incomes that ranged between 30 and 50% of total annual farm incomes, cashed in once or twice a year. Milk production provides economic stability to DPF, whereas FL and low input use are key elements that allow low costs in the production of milk and calves in DPF in Central Mexico.

Is the increase of scale in the tropics a pathway to smallholders? Dimension and ecological zone effect on the mixed crop-livestock farms

“…Grazing is developed on land not suitable for agriculture with slopes greater than 20% . The average smallholders' age was 51 according to Cuevas-Reyes et al (2013) and Albarrán-Portillo et al (2015). Also, the older farmers have gained greater financial capability and dimension but these items were not related to an improvement of the productive index in this study.…”

“…Amankwah et al, 2012;Sumberg & Lankonandé, 2013;Torres et al, 2015), and socioeconomic ones (e.g. Bernués & Herrero, 2008;Lentes et al, 2010;Cuevas-Reyes et al, 2013;Albarrán-Portillo et al, 2015). Besides, in the European Union a new disruptive concept called "bioeconomy" appears, as a sustainable model of growth to combine continued wealth generation and employment with biobased sustainable resource usage (Philippidis et al, 2014).…”

“…According to Albarrán-Portillo et al (2015), there are more than 372,000 farms of DP in Mexico. This research was focused on DP farms with 50 or less cows in both dry and wet areas from tropic regions of Mexico (90% of the population).…”

A Methodological Approach to Evaluate Livestock Innovations on Small-Scale Farms in Developing Countries

“…In agriculture, innovation was defined in the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa by [6] as "the activities and processes associated with the generation, product distribution, adaptation and use of new technical and institutional/organization knowledge" [7]. We define innovation as an integrated system to improve agricultural productivity and agroecosystem resilience, involving different agronomic and management components within a synergistic relationship.…”

“…[19], which indicate that an increase of farm size improves production, intensification, and the innovation level. In regard to cultural factors, [7] associate an increase of technological level to higher levels of education. According to [20]: "Farmers need to innovate in their system; governments need to innovate in the specific policies they implement to support family farming; producers' organizations need to innovate for a better response to the needs of family farmers; the researchers and extension advisors need to innovate shifting from a research driven process predominantly based on technology transfer to an approach that enables and rewards innovation done by smallholders themselves".…”