Technology in Cattle Breeder Systems in Sierras del Este

Available Offer and Technological Decision-making on the Farm

Abstract

The work was developed with the aim of identifying alternative technologies available in the country in livestock breeding, and to deeply study the causes of the existence of a gap between technological offer and adoption. The Project was carried out in the Sierras del Este region (Uruguay), an area of approximately 1,828,000 hectares, where extensive livestock farming breeding systems are predominant. The main activities consisted on reaching an agreement on the technological offer available for those systems, and characterizing it, based on attributes, working with a qualified group of technicians on stock breeding; and defining -through a survey and analysis of focus groups- the socio-economic and attitudinal variables of the farmers in the region, and their relationship with their behaviour towards technological change. The results obtained were: 1) a systematization of the technological offer available in the country for livestock breeding systems, characterized and prioritized; 2) the causes that limited the technological adoption in those systems; 3) a detailed characterization of farmers located in Sierras del Este and their predisposition for technological adoption (closely related to five variables: scale, availability of facilities, attendance at technical meetings, the perception that business consists on producing more, and access to technical assistance) and 4) the identification of the main channels and information networks of these farmers. Those studies constitute a solid basis for developing a technology transfer plan based on a refined understanding of the technological decision-making process at the farm level.