THE SPECIALIZATION OF MILK PRODUCTION IN THE VALE DO TAQUARI / RS REGION

Abstract

Milk production is present in most of rural properties and can be found throughout the national territory, although it is concentrated in some regions and developed in different scales and production models, from subsistence to highly specialized. In this sense, the objective of this study was to analyze the existence (or not) of specialization of the dairy activity in the region of Vale do Taquari (VT) in comparison to other regions, since it is not located according to previous studies in the region of Rio Grande do Sul as of greater specialization. In order to achieve the proposed objective, the Locational Quotient (QL) method was used, with secondary data coming from the Municipal Livestock Research of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the Economics and Statistics Foundation (FEE). The results indicated a tendency of specialization of the activity in most of the municipalities of VT during the analyzed period, as a consequence of the increases in the yield and the productivity per cow, as well as in the value of the production. This last one has a wide representativeness in the constitution of the value added in agribusiness sector for most regional municipalities when compared to the state.