Centre Haïtien d'Innovations en Biotechnologies pour une Agriculture Soutenable (CHIBAS), Université Quisqueya, 218 Avenue Jean Paul II, HT6113, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Groupe de Recherche et d'Action pour le Développement Économique et Social (GRADES), Quartier Morin, Haiti.
Sci Rep. 2024 May 25;14(1):12005. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-62883-6.
Agricultural mechanization is recognized as an important technology to increase agricultural productivity, face labor shortages, and reduce post-harvest loss. However, variations among farms' characteristics and agricultural production systems suggest adopting a targeted strategy in mechanization programs for farmers. This research aimed to answer the following questions in the particular case of Haiti: are there different types of smallholder farmers in terms of mechanization use and socio-economic characteristics? What types of mechanization are used by farmers, and what drives their use among different types of farmers? What are the different types of farms in terms of mechanization use? We used typology construction methodology (principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA)) for a sample of 637 farmers and have identified four different clusters of farmers according to the characteristics of the farms they managed: "Little rain-fed farms" (cluster 1), "Little lowlands farms" (cluster 2), "Medium-sized farms in irrigated plains" (cluster 3), and "Large fragmented mountain farms". Farms in cluster 3 were those who used more agricultural mechanization, and the results of multinomial logistic regression (MNLR) model revealed that the significant drivers of this use were location, access to credit and low food security status. Mechanization use of farms in clusters 1 and 4 was distinctively driven by saving behavior and off-farm income, respectively. In the pooled sample, the drivers of mechanization were: regions or location, age of the farmers, irrigation, livestock, access to credit, off-farm income and food security status. This study contributes to the literature by testing new drivers of agricultural mechanization such as food security status, and off-farm income. The findings can be used to design appropriate mechanization strategies to increase productivity and face labor price/scarcity challenges. They suggest that mechanization policies should focus on agricultural equipment that are adapted to the specificities of the production systems of each farm type, and strengthen access to credit. Otherwise, mechanization will be predominantly used only in irrigated lowlands.
农业机械化被认为是提高农业生产力、应对劳动力短缺和减少产后损失的重要技术。然而，由于农场的特点和农业生产系统存在差异，因此需要为农民制定有针对性的机械化计划。本研究旨在回答海地特定情况下的以下问题：在机械化使用和社会经济特征方面，是否存在不同类型的小农户？农民使用哪些类型的机械化，以及不同类型的农民使用哪些类型的机械化？根据机械化使用情况，农场可以分为哪些不同类型？我们使用了类型学构建方法（主成分分析（PCA）和层次聚类分析（HCA）），对 637 名农民进行了抽样调查，并根据他们管理的农场的特点，确定了四种不同类型的农民群体：“小雨养农场”（第 1 类）、“小低地农场”（第 2 类）、“灌溉平原中型农场”（第 3 类）和“大型分散山地农场”（第 4 类）。第 3 类农场使用了更多的农业机械化，多项逻辑回归（MNLR）模型的结果表明，这种使用的主要驱动因素是位置、获得信贷的机会和低粮食安全状况。第 1 类和第 4 类农场的机械化使用明显受到储蓄行为和非农收入的驱动。在总样本中，推动机械化的因素包括：地区或位置、农民年龄、灌溉、牲畜、获得信贷、非农收入和粮食安全状况。本研究通过测试农业机械化的新驱动因素，如粮食安全状况和非农收入，为文献做出了贡献。研究结果可用于设计适当的机械化策略，以提高生产力并应对劳动力价格/短缺的挑战。研究结果表明，机械化政策应侧重于适应每种农场类型生产系统特点的农业设备，并加强获得信贷的机会。否则，机械化将主要在灌溉低地使用。
