Regional differences of technology in family farming in Brazil

Abstract The objective of this research was to obtain, for the Brazilian family farming, a measure of the use of the main technologies. Initially, for each meso-region, 59 indicators of the use of various technologies were obtained. Through factor analysis, these indicators were synthesized in four factors, whose values were the basis for the estimative of an index of technology use. It was observed, from these indexes, large regional differences regarding the use of technology in family farming. It was found that the highest levels of technology use are concentrated in the South, but also in the Southeast of Brazil, especially in São Paulo state. In the Central-West, except for the Federal District, average levels prevail. However, in the North and Northeast, in most cases, low or very low levels of technology are predominant.