Caracterización productiva y económica de los sistemas alpaqueros de producción campesina en Chimborazo Ecuador

Abstract

The objective was to productively and economically evaluate the farmer agroecosystem dedicated to alpaca production, in order to establish a baseline for the implementation of its value chain. In the cantons of Colta, Guamote, Alausí, Riobamba and Guano, Chimborazo Province, Ecuador, 37 owners of the alpaca agroecosystem were surveyed; 37 owners of the alpaca agroecosystem were surveyed to identify their productive-economic dynamics and acquire information to implement a sustainable development model, using a survey, descriptive statistics and Ward's method, social variables were analyzed, where the family nucleus has 2 children (31.42%), with the male sex standing out (50.3%), also the highest educational level is secondary school (42.7%), the economically active population (EAP) was 81.53% (between 15 to 65 years). Productively, it was divided into 3 categories according to fiber production (18.52 and 60 kg/year), 63.3% of the area used in agriculture and 41.8% is livestock, potato production was highlighted, cow milk and alpaca fiber, The agricultural productive units are anchored between 2300 and 3500 masl, from 6 to 18 °C, 85% humidity and 400 to 2000 mm/year precipitation, the soil is sandy, deep, fertile, 6.4 pH and 4.1% organic matter. In the economic analysis, most of the agricultural items work at a loss except in the livestock where the cow milk (1.09), sheep wool (1.25) and alpacas (1.3 and 1.4 for meat and wool in their order) responded with an acceptable cost benefit, concluding that there is potential to convert these systems from predominantly milk producers to alpaca production (meat and fiber), and thus improve the trend of natural grassland, as well as the peasant family economy.