Abstract

TOVAR-PAREDES, Jorge Luis; NARVAEZ-SOLARTE, William  and  AGUDELO-GIRALDO, Liceth. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CREOLE HEN IN THE PEASANT PRODUCTION AGRO-ECOSYSTEM IN THE RAIN-FOREST AREA OF INFLUENCE IN FLORENCIA (CALDAS). Luna Azul [online]. 2015, n.41, pp.57-72. ISSN 1909-2474.  https://doi.org/10.17151/luaz.2015.41.4.

Backyard hen farming is an important farming activity in the rural communities in the country characterized by the low investment required and for the easiness to carry it out. Creole hens are mostly used because of their adaptability to adverse conditions for breeding. This activity strengthens the peasant families' welfare since they take the most out of the family workforce and it is a generating source for peasant household goods. Objective: To characterize the different backyard hen production systems in the rainforest influence area of Florencia, municipality of Samaná in the Department of Caldas. Methodology: From the 103 farms in the area of study, 76 farms corresponding to all the properties with Creole hen farming were surveyed and information was collected using a quantitative and qualitative integrated variables format dealing with socio-cultural, economic, environmental and chicken management aspects which allowed determining their interaction and grouping the different production systems. The analysis of the information was carried out through cluster analysis parting from multivariate techniques application. The Twenty-five qualitative variables with the highest discriminatory power were considered and the dimensionality of the problem was reduced discarding those variables with a low discriminant power. Results: The analysis allowed identifying nine main components that explain 71% of the total variance in order to establish six farm systems where the hens represent from 65% to 2.8% of the farming capital in direct relation with the farm extension and the main farming vocation. Conclusions: Hen production is an important activity in rural communities which is complemented with other productive activities developed in the land. It contributes with nutrients to the diet accomplishing the function of transformation of vegetal origin products and residues into animal origin protein.

Keywords : Birds; characterization; chicken; backyard; native.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )