Resumen de Social and productive characteristics of small and medium ¿ sized swine farms in Caseros Department, Santa Fe Province, Argentina
Daniel Aldo Campagna, Juan Antonio Zapata, Diego Somenzini, C. Martínez Eyherabide, P. O'Duyer
This is an exploratory study of the social and productive characteristics of the small and medium sized swine production enterprises of Argentina. Sampling took place in the Department of Caseros, which is representative of the swine industry in the country as a whole due to the importance of its production and to the prevailing type of system (complete cycle outdoors). Only three of the 328 swine farms included use total confinement; 69% possess fewer than 51 breeding sows, and 74.6% complete the full cycle (farrowing to finishing). One hundred and six farms, representative of each stratum of producers defined by the number of breeding sows), were chosen at random. These producers were interviewed during May to August, 2000, and the data were updated in May, 2005. The interviews showed that these enterprises employ three times as many people as large-scale production units. These, who are largely both agricultural and swine producers, make a living from their farms. The production data reveal low performance levels, of both finishing animals and breeding sows on these farms. Characterization of these small and medium-sized producers that began with this study will facilitate implementation of any program destined to promote this activity. The description achieved in the present effort will also enable prioritizing variables to be measured in future studies (Sp).
