Eficiencia económica en el uso de mano de obra entre pequeños productores de maíz con tecnología tradicional y tecnología mejorada

This paper analyzed the economic efficiency of labor use among small corn growers. Three different groups of farmers are contrasted: Producers who adopted ICA's recommended technical package, farmers receiving technical assistance services, and producers cultivating under traditional methods and receiving no technical assistance. Cobb-Douglas, and quadratic production functions were used to estimate, via marginal analysis, labor efficiency points for each of the mentioned groups. The analysis of the data yielded the folio. wing results: - Under traditional technology, farmers overutiize labor: They employ more units of labor than they should in order to keep their levels of proctions. - Under the recommended technology, farmers tend to underutilize labor resources: They use fewer units of labor than they could if they were to increase their output. - No clear-cut conclusion could be obtained from the analyses of the data regarding the third of growers. Data from another study on labor use within the same region suggest that the introduction of new technology implies increased use of labor resources. However the recommended technology seems to bring about seasonal labor shortages in some areas within the region. This could be one of the reasons to explain labor underutilization among adopters of the recommended corn technology.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Escobar P., Germán
Format: article biblioteca
Language:spa
Published: Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario 1978
Subjects:Ciencia y tecnología de los alimentos  - Q01, Zea mays, Cultivo, Análisis económico, Agricultura tradicional, Cambio tecnológico, Transitorios,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12324/35482
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Summary:This paper analyzed the economic efficiency of labor use among small corn growers. Three different groups of farmers are contrasted: Producers who adopted ICA's recommended technical package, farmers receiving technical assistance services, and producers cultivating under traditional methods and receiving no technical assistance. Cobb-Douglas, and quadratic production functions were used to estimate, via marginal analysis, labor efficiency points for each of the mentioned groups. The analysis of the data yielded the folio. wing results: - Under traditional technology, farmers overutiize labor: They employ more units of labor than they should in order to keep their levels of proctions. - Under the recommended technology, farmers tend to underutilize labor resources: They use fewer units of labor than they could if they were to increase their output. - No clear-cut conclusion could be obtained from the analyses of the data regarding the third of growers. Data from another study on labor use within the same region suggest that the introduction of new technology implies increased use of labor resources. However the recommended technology seems to bring about seasonal labor shortages in some areas within the region. This could be one of the reasons to explain labor underutilization among adopters of the recommended corn technology.