Abstract

CARDOSO, João Luiz; ARCHANJO-SAMPAIO, María de Fátima; TERUEL-MENDEROS, Bárbara  and  STELLA-ZIBORDI, Mariana. Comparison of performance indicators in agricultural production and animal husbandry: Latin America and European Union countries. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2004, vol.1, n.2, pp.171-181. ISSN 1870-5472.

The objective of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the characteristics of agricultural and livestock production, especially with respect to technological performance, between countries of Latin America and the European Union (EU). Specifically irrigation, mechanization, economically active agricultural labor force; as well as composed indices of the yields of important agricultural and livestock products were considered. The data source was the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization statistics data bank (FAOSTAT), from the years 1996 to 1998. Factorial and principals components analyses, as well as herarchical clasification, were used, processed with the STAT -ITCF software from the Institut Technique de Céréales et des Fourrages, (France). The methodology included a division of the countries into five groups for Latin America and four for the EU, which allowed the description and detailed analysis of their farming and animal husbandry performance.

Keywords : Technological performance; agriculture and livestock breeding; agricultural yield; livestock yield.