Energy sources, patterns of use and their influence on potato and barley production costs, Pucarani

Abstract

Agricultural producers, mainly small farmers, develop different strategies, which respond to a specific reality, to the conditions of their environment and to their access to technological resources. These resources refer to the Technical Means of Tillage (MTL) or set of mechanical or manual means used by producers to facilitate productive tasks. Likewise, it is important to know the most used energy sources, their performance and strategies of use; in order to dimension and plan the agricultural mechanization processes, especially for the small producer. This research analyzes the particular combination between motive, animal and human energy sources, through the selection of different LWM in potato and barley crops in three regions of Pucarani. The results show that each zone has a particular behavior, however, the average shows that the effective capacity in primary tillage is low: 4 h ha^-1, an aspect that affects the operating costs, which average 80 Bs h^-1. The potato crop requires more mechanical support, which is solved by resorting to human and animal power, in the absence of implements that can be operated by the tractor. The influence of the LWMs on production costs is also observed, since the availability of tillage implements for different cultural tasks makes it possible to make production more profitable; but the families' access to the LWMs is reduced, which forces them to establish family strategies that, although they give continuity to agricultural activities, do not stop generating economic difficulties and efficient use of the available energy.