FARM COMPUTER USAGE IN SÃO PAULO STATE, BRAZIL 1

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1 FARM COMPUTER USAGE IN SÃO PAULO STATE, BRAZIL 1 Vera Lúcia Ferraz dos Santos Francisco 2 Francisco Alberto Pino 3 ABSTRACT - The impact of computer usage in agriculture is studied in São Paulo state, Brazil, by using data from a census and from a sample survey. It is shown that farms using computers increased 89% in four or five years; on the other hand, in seven months, farms owning computers increased 47%, and Internet access increased 82%. Computer ownership is greater in business farms, in large farms, and among graduate and absentee farmers. Computers are being used for text and letter edition, agricultural accounting, farm administration, and management of rural workers, livestock, crops and farming machinery. The Internet is being used to obtain news on the agricultural sector, to access market data and analyses, to access rural extension, to obtain technical assistance and for agribusiness e-commerce. Finally, it is suggested that government agencies and private enterprises may develop special programs in order to introduce more farmers to computer technology before its adoption in farming activities. KEY WORDS: Computer usage and ownership; information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture; Internet in agriculture. 1 The authors thank for the collaboration of Maria Cristina Teixeira de Jesus Rowies, Marcelo Jorge Chaim and Adriano Campbell. 2 Instituto de Economia Agrícola, Centro de Levantamentos e Análises Estatísticas,Av. Miguel Estéfano, 3900, São Paulo, Brazil, veralfrancisco@iea.sp.gov.br 3 Instituto de Economia Agrícola, Centro de Levantamentos e Análises Estatísticas, Av. Miguel Estéfano, 3900, São Paulo, Brazil, pino@iea.sp.gov.br.

2 82 Francisco e Pino USO DE COMPUTADORES EM FAZENDAS NO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO, BRASIL RESUMO - Analisou-se o impacto do uso de computadores na agricultura paulista, mediante a utilização de dados do Levantamento Censitário de Unidades de Produção Agropecuária e de um levantamento amostral no período novembro de 2000 e junho de Para isso, mostrou-se que, em quatro ou cinco anos, houve um acréscimo de 89% na adoção dessa tecnologia entre os proprietários rurais e, por outro lado, em sete meses, aumentou 47% a a- quisição de um computador e 82% o acesso à Internet. Existe concentração do número de computadores em propriedades de grande tamanho, propriedades empresariais, entre os proprietários que possuem alto nível de escolaridade e entre aqueles que não residem na propriedade. As utilizações mais comuns são datilografia de textos, cartas e similares, contabilidade agrícola, administração geral da fazenda, administração rural, administração na criação de gado, administração de colheita e administração de máquinas. A Internet foi usada para obter notícias do setor agrícola, acessar dados do mercado agrícola, adquirir de informações para a extensão rural e ajuda técnica para o comércio eletrônico da agroindustria. Finalmente, sugere-se que mais fazendeiros sejam apresentados a essa tecnologia antes da adoção, a fim de permitir sua plena atuação em todo o processo produtivo da propriedade. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: uso de computador na propriedade agrícola, tecnologia da informação e comunicação (TIC) em agricultura, Internet na agricultura 1. INTRODUCTION In the last decades of the 20 th century the use of computers has been introduced in the agricultural activities of many countries. In spite of being part of a developing country, the State of São Paulo is itself the most developed Brazilian State. So, the adoption process of this new technology may be studied in this state along the years, since the process has been already started and data are available. A first step of such kind of research is presented in this paper. Data from an agricultural census on all the farms, surveyed in , are used to characterize the ending of 20 th century (Pino et al., 1997, 2000). In order to acquaint the beginning of the 21 st century, data from two probabilistic stratified sample surveys on the same farms, selected from the previous census frame, referring to November 2000 and June 2001 are used (see Francisco & Pino, 2000, for the sample design description). Variables as planted area and labor were considered to forming the strata: 41 variables were condensed into 16 factors, using factor analysis, and these were used to grouping farms with cluster analysis. Some results are presented by region (40 administrative regions called Agricultural Development Offices - EDRs in Portuguese) and others are presented only for the state level. In order to attenuate the severe non-response problem in the sample surveys (described in Pino & Francisco,

3 Farm computer usage in São Paulo State, Brazil ), both were compared and data imputation has been applied (see Pino, 1986; Francisco et al., 1998, for methodological details on data imputation). However, when the estimation for a given region resulted to be too much biased (non-response greater or equal to 30% or coefficient of variation greater or equal to 25%) they have been omitted. All the calculations were obtained with the Statistical Analysis Software (SAS ). The main hypothesis is that computer usage and ownership in agriculture are growing very fast. 2. COMPUTERS IN FARM BUSINESS In the Knowledge Era the farmers are expected to be strongly competitive; so, they have to decide how to use the production factors as rationally as possible in order to maximize their potentiality. Agricultural production has to be increased by productivity and income gains due to technological adoption such as the use of computers. In the State of São Paulo, Brazil, farms using computers for their farm business increased from 10,134 (3.7%) in to 19,131 farms (6.9%) in November 2000 (Table 1). On the other hand, farms owning computers (both in the farm or in a central office) have grown from 24,983 (9.0%) in November 2000 up to 36,594 (13.2%) in June These are small numbers if compared to the United States farms: 24% in 1999 and 29% in 2001 using computers for rural activities; 40% in 1999 and 50% in 2001 owning or leasing a computer; 14% in 1999 and 55% in 2001 having access to a computer (The estimates are based on a sample of over 32,500 agricultural operations; coefficients of variation were 1% or less at national level and from 3 to 30% at State level) (NASS, 2001). In Mexico, the use of computers by farmers is estimated to be less than 1%, mainly in the north (Márquez-Berber, 2001). Nevertheless, the boom of computer usage and ownership in São Paulo farms is quite obvious. Indeed, the number of farms using computers for rural activities increased nearly 89% in four or five years and the farms owning computers increased 47% in seven months. The computer usage is greater in regions where the soil usage is more intensive (Figure 1). The percentage of farms using computers is greater than the state average in 18 of the 40 administrative regions, from which 13 also present medium land price greater than the state average. From the 10 top regions, based on the value of the agricultural production, 9 are among those 18 with largest computer usage. Sugar cane, orange and coffee are the main crops found in those areas. As it should be expected, the computer ownership is greater in business farms (67% of them own a computer) than in non-business farms, including home farming (only 8%), in November The computer usage is greater in large farms than in small ones: it increases from 0.6% in farms less than or equal to 1 ha to 65% in farms greater than 5,000 and less than or equal to 10,000 ha, and then decreases to 39% in farms greater than 10,000 ha, in (Francisco & Martin, 1999).

4 84 Francisco e Pino Some of the farmer characteristics may affect the decision to adopt a given technology or the farm administration. Age, scholarship and farmer activities outside the farm have been reported to influence computer usage (Batte et al., 1996; Howard et al., 1996 and Baker, 1991, according to Vale & Rezende, 2001). In the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, 49% of the farmers using computers were up to 40 years old and 73% were graduate (Vale & Rezende, 2001). In São Paulo, computer usage depends on the farmer educational level: 56% of the farmers using computers for farm business are graduate, 15% have high school education, and the others have elementary education or less, in (Francisco & Martin, 1999). It also depends on the farmer absenteeism: 4% of non-resident farmers and 2% of resident farmers use computers. Moreover, 83% of the farmers using computers are non-resident. The several possible uses of computers in agriculture may be classified into three groups: a) administrative uses, such as for rural accounting, inventory control, labor management; b) cattle raising uses, such as production, breeding, health and genealogical controls; c) farming, such as planning the farming system. In November 2000, farmers using computers declared to use them for texts and letters edition (81%), agricultural accounting (77%), farm administration (76%), rural workers management (66%), livestock management (56%), crop management (53%), agricultural machinery management (53%), and others (13%). It is worthwhile to know if the ones not using computers are motivated to do it in the near future. In June 2001, only a few farmers that do not own a computer were very interested in acquiring one (4%), and this shows an important trend for the short-term future (Figure 2). The following reasons were pointed out for not owning a computer: the farmer is not interested on computers (40%), computers are expensive (32%), the farmer does not know how to operate a computer (19%), and others (1%), including answers like low income and too small farm. This disinterestedness may be due to the lack of information about the new technology, mainly in the farms distant from urban areas. Most farmers are used to be traditional, resistant to innovations, and some of them may have experienced frustrated endeavors of using computers in the past. The adoption of this technology is usually done by steps: even though not having a computer, the first step should be to organize and rationalize the administrative processes; the next step should be to acquire or to contract the use of software and hardware; the final step should be the integration of systems and procedures, searching for efficiency and costs minimization. If the farmer is not able to collect data on his own farm to feed the computational system, then structural changes may be necessary (Jesus, 1994, and Meireles, 1994, according to Jesus & Zambalde, 2001).

5 Farm computer usage in São Paulo State, Brazil. 85 Table 1. Farm computer usage and ownership, State of São Paulo, Brazil, , 2000 and Region (EDR) Using computer for farm business ( ) 1 Number Percent of farms Owning computers (Nov. 2000) 2 Using computer for farm business (Nov. 2000) 2 Number of Percent farms Owning computers (June 2001) 2 Number of farms Percent Number of farms Percent Andradina Aracatuba Araraquara Assis , Avare , Barretos , Bauru , , Botucatu Braganca Paulista , Campinas , , Catanduva , , , Dracena Fernandopolis Franca , General Salgado Guaratingueta Itapetininga Itapeva Jaboticabal , Jales Jau , Limeira Lins Marilia , , , Moji das Cruzes Mogimirim Orlandia , Ourinhos Pindamonhangaba Piracicaba Presidente Prudente , , Presidente Venceslau Registro Ribeirao Preto Sao Joao da Boa Vista , , Sao Jose do Rio Preto , Sao Paulo Sorocaba , Tupa , Votuporanga SAO PAULO STATE 10, , , , Source: Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo, Projeto LUPA. 2 Source: Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo, Instituto de Economia Agrícola e Coordenadoria de Assistência Técnica Integral. 3 Non-available data due to non response ( 30%) or high coefficient of variance ( 25%).

6 86 Francisco e Pino Figure 1 - Farm computer usage by region, State of São Paulo, Brazil, Sources: Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo, Projeto LUPA, (computer usage); Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo, Instituto de Economia Agrícola e Coordenadoria de Assistência Técnica Integral (value of agricultural production and land price). 2. INTERNET IN FARM BUSINESS It has taken 40 years for the radio to reach 50 million users, 13 years for television, 10 years for cable television and only 3 years for Internet (Sales, 2000). The latter has been easily accepted by the farmers, inducing other members of the agribusiness, as input suppliers and agricultural products buyers, to use the Internet (Santos, 2000). It is going to be a powerful tool in production chains for the negotiation of very large amounts of products, as well as for rationalizing the production distribution cycle, anticipating demands and quickly correcting stocks. In the United States, in 1999, more than 2 billion dollars of agricultural inputs were commercialized through the Internet, and in 2004 it is expected the e-commerce in agriculture to reach 120 billion dollars, about 8% of the total (Sales, 2000).

7 Farm computer usage in São Paulo State, Brazil. 87 Not answered 15,3% Own a computer 13,2% Do not own a computer 71,5% Not interested 45,3% Not answered 12,0% Little interested 9,8% Very interested 4,3% Figure 2 Farm computer ownership and interest in acquiring computers, State of São Paulo, Brazil, June In São Paulo, a total of 18,636 farms (6.7%) have Internet access in June 2001 (from which 14,364 also have telephone), compared to 10,806 (3.9%) in November 2000, indicating 82% more in seven months. These are also small numbers compared to the 43% of U.S. farms having Internet access in 2001 (29% in 1999). However, the fast adoption of this technology is evident in São Paulo, as it was in that country only few years ago: in 1997, only 4.7% of the 40% farms that had a computer actually had used Internet (Harsh, 1998). The Internet connection allows farmers to access information systems and this application seems to grow faster than farm computer usage with agricultural software, which requires continuous investments in human resources and equipment (Zullo Jr., 2001). A pilot study on the feasibility of using Internet technology as a two-way communication tool for transferring of production technology and economic information from government agencies to farmers as well a channel for receiving messages from farmers has been started in Thailand in 1996 (Pongsrihadulchai, 1998). In the near future it may be feasible to use Internet technology in order to survey statistical data from the farms and then publishing the results back to the farmers. In São Paulo, 74% of the farmers with Internet access use it to obtain news on the agricultural sector, 71% to access price data and market analyses, 48% to access rural extension, 46% to obtain technical assistance, 28% for agribusiness e- commerce, 1% for other uses such as obtaining meteorological data and advertising his own business. Moreover, of the farms with Internet access only 8% have

8 88 Francisco e Pino an , so far an additional difficulty to send information to the farmers. 3. CONCLUDING REMARKS Information and communication technology (ICT), particularly computer technology, is reshaping all sectors. Although computer usage is still associated to urban activities, and is not widely used in rural sector yet, it follows from the discussion presented here that it will be quickly outspread. Computer usage and Internet accessing are quickly growing in São Paulo farms. The utilization of Internet is growing faster than the use of software for agricultural purposes, probably because it is cheaper and easier to use. As a matter of fact, using software for agricultural activities demands some organization in the farm, data input, skilled people and so on. At last, farmers are very different from each other, with different educational and technical levels. Qualified farmers are able to adopt computer technology and search for good or new business and market opportunities whereas less qualified ones will have to wait for a chance. For the latter, both governmental agencies and private enterprises may develop special programs in order to present computer technology to farmers before its adoption in farming activities. 4. REFERENCES FRANCISCO, V. L. F. S.; PINO, F. A. Estratificação de unidades de produção agrícola para levantamentos por amostragem no Estado de São Paulo. Agricultura em São Paulo, São Paulo, v. 47, n. 1, p , FRANCISCO, V. L. F. S.; MARTIN, N. B. A informática na agricultura paulista. Informações Econômicas, São Paulo, v. 29, n. 11, p , nov FRANCISCO, V. L. F. S.; SUEYOSHI, M. L. S.; PINO, F. A.; TORRES, A. J. Controle de qualidade de dados estatísticos: o levantamento censitário de unidades de produção agrícola. Agricultura em São Paulo, São Paulo, v. 45, n. 1, p , HARSH, S. B. Agricultural information systems: current applications and future prospects. Agricultural information technology in Asia and Oceania. JESUS, J. C. S.; ZAMBALDE, A. L. Informática na agropecuária: hardware, software e recursos humanos. Disponível em: rtigo26.htm>. Acesso em: 27 set MÁRQUEZ-BERBER, S. R. Computers and agriculture: the Mexico case. In: INTERNACIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTERS IN AGRICULTURE, 6., < 6thProc/berber.html>. Acesso em: NASS. National Agricultural Statistics Service, Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Farm computer usage and ownership. Acesso em: 30 jul

9 Farm computer usage in São Paulo State, Brazil. 89 PINO, F. A. Detecção e correção de erros em levantamentos agrícolas. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, Brasília, v. 21, n. 9, p , set PINO, F. A.; FRANCISCO, V. L. F. S. Controle de qualidade em levantamento agrícola por amostragem em São Paulo. Informações Econômicas, São Paulo, v. 31, n. 6, p. 7-24, jun PINO, F. A. et al. (Org.) Levantamento censitário de unidades de produção agrícola do Estado de São Paulo. São Paulo: IEA/CATI/SAA, v. PINO, F. A. et al. (Org.) Levantamento censitário de unidades de produção agrícola do Estado de São Paulo, ed. rev. e ampl. São Paulo: IEA/CATI/SAA, CD-ROM. PONGSRIHADULCHAI, A. Application of information technology in agriculture in Thailand. Agricultural information technology in Asia and Oceania. Local: Editora, p SALES, A. Os benefícios da Internet no campo. Revista Agrosoft, CD-ROM SANTOS, R. S. Comércio eletrônico já chegou ao campo. Revista Agrosoft, CD-ROM. VALE, S. M. L. R; REZENDE, M. L. Uso da informática na agricultura mineira: perfil do usuário e estado da arte. Disponível em: < /artigo57.htm>. Acesso em: 27 set ZULLO Jr., J. A utilização da informática na agropecuária. Disponível em: < /doc47.htm>. Acesso em: 27 set