Caracterização dos Produtores de Leite no Norte do Tocantins Atendidos pelo Programa Crescer no Campo - Pecuária Norte.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize small and medium-sized dairy producers in Araguaína, Aragominas, Piraquê, Santa Fé do Araguaia, Wanderlândia and Xambioá municipalities, through the socioeconomic survey of farmers and their properties, zootechnical indexes, management and reproductive, sanitary and food management. Fifty - one farmers were interviewed, all participating in the Growing in the Field - Pecuária Norte extension project, developed by SEBRAE, a unit in Araguaína. Data collection was performed from July to November 2017, through a direct survey, using a standard questionnaire previously prepared for this purpose, the set of data obtained were processed in the program Microsoft Excel, which was calculated on the average of the characteristics studied. Data analysis was performed through descriptive statistics and discussed by region analyzed and the average of the participants, being the heterogeneity of the results within the regions, the determining factor for the choice. According to the information gathered in the present study, the milk producers were classified between middle and senior age, presenting a relatively good level of education, considering that the majority were self-declared literate, or, with full secondary education, and region C stood out for such a category. Producers were still considered as long-lived in the activity, having only 5.88% with less than 1 year of experience, there is also an expressive number of settled producers, in which, among the municipalities studied, Aragominas is more representative in this respect. The efficiency of land use for dairy farming was considered low, so that farmers used up to 50% of their property, but did not exceed production of 75 L / day. Dairy farming was considered the main income-generating activity of the farms assisted by the program, in which zootechnical control was the most adopted among the interviewees. Manual milking, performed once a day and with the presence of the calf on foot, was considered the most usual of the interviewees. Regarding dry food management, rainfed pasture with or without voluminous supplementation was the most used, and forage cane was the main complementary source. The dairy herds were considered to be poorly structured due to the low representation of dairy cows in the herd, but with an individual production higher than the national average in some regions, however, far from ideal. It is worth mentioning that the producers included in the program are efficient in the production of milk, however, as in every activity, there are the bottlenecks that need and must be improved, thus, placements need to be taken so that the productive and economic indexes of the properties served are improved, resulting in the maximization of the activity in question.