TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: WHAT DAIRY FARMERS THAT VISITED EMBRAPA DAIRY CATTLE THOUGHT ABOUT RESEARCH RESULTS

Abstract

The goal of this article is to analyze the activity of technology transfer (TT) among the farmers who visited Embrapa Dairy Cattle in its experimental field in Coronel Pacheco, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The methodology consisted in the organization of visitor entries, in a finite population sampling, and in interviews by phone. The initial sample design was partially substituted for interviews with the producers with whom it was possible to make contact, who corresponded to 16.5% of the 853 entries registered from 2004 to 2008. This suggests the need for a better supervision of the filling of entries, as well as the recasting of the registration forms. With regard to their origin, the producers are predominantly from the Southeast region of Brazil, particularly from the State of Minas Gerais, who were equivalent to 52%. With respect to the quantity of milk produced per day, most visitors (87%) produce up to 500 liters of milk per day. The greatest difficulties cited (70%) were the price of milk and labor, which are factors that have little to do with production technologies. The issues that benefited visitors the most were technical issues of immediate practical use, such as management of livestock, pasture management with emphasis on rotational grazing, improvement of production in general and technical guidelines. Producers demand more access to the research results.

Index terms: dairy activity, evaluation, extension, research.