Socio-economic and technological typology of avocado cv. Hass farms from Antioquia (Colombia)

Abstract

A typology of avocado cv. Hass farms was constructed based on information collected from productive units in Antioquia, Colombia. The study aimed to provide key information about the farms for those involved in the design of programs and public policies directed to growers. The data were scrutinized through Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Cluster Analysis. The sample was made up of 214 growers of the crop. Quantitative and qualitative variables were employed for the MCA, which rendered 40 dimensions, out of which 16 accounted for 70% of the total inertia (variance) found in the data. These 16 dimensions were used as input for the Cluster Analysis, which provided the following results: 52%, 32% and 15% of the farms were located in Clusters 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The identified farm types can be associated to peasant (Cluster 1) and commercial (Cluster 3) agricultural schemes, plus a transition between them (Cluster 2). The most discriminating variables regarding such categorization were: farm size, farm registry at ICA (Colombian Agricultural Institute), Avocado cv. Hass yield, labor source, presence of crops other than avocado, existence of formal commercial alliances and technical assistance type. The percentage of farmers belonging to grower organizations was high in the three clusters. Growers in Clusters 3 and 2 had established formal commercial alliances which enabled them to access better sale prices for the crop. A trend towards establishing cv. Hass as a monocrop is observed, which may threaten both crop biodiversity and the food security of peasant growers.