Abstract

LEON-AGATON, Libardo; MEJIA-GUTIERREZ, Luis Fernando  and  MONTES-RAMIREZ, Luz Mary. SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BANANA PRODUCTION IN THE LOWER WEST REGION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CALDAS. Luna Azul [online]. 2015, n.41, pp.184-200. ISSN 1909-2474.  https://doi.org/10.17151/luaz.2015.41.11.

Plantain is a strategic crop for national food security becoming one of the most important staple foods at the socioeconomical level because of the opportunity to generate direct and indirect employment in addition to the income generated for the rural population. The objective was to make a diagnosis to assess the degree of targeting of the producer and the impact of the intervention of the entities in charge of transfering technology through programs of technical and social support to help with other alternatives that allow improvement of the sector revenues. The characterization is also raised as a tool and source of public information available to institutions wishing to implement new programs that serve to improve the socioeconomic and technological development of the sector. By means of a survey to producers, aspects related to the producers' profile, crop establishment, social activity, cultural practices, harvesting, post-harvest and marketing were evaluated. The findings showed that most producers are elderly and low educational level, low capacity of association and use of traditional hired labor. The crops are small, without technification, of poor management because of inadequate implementation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and the use of prohibited chemicals, deficiencies in disinfection, production, harvest and postharvest processes. This problem influences in a negative way the quality of the product and proper commercialization and profitability.

Keywords : Characterization; producers; practices; banana.

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