Gerencia sistémica agropecuaria: gestión de la producción–parte I

Abstract

Farm production in Colombia has occupied an important place in its economy, more for the benefits that the different agricultural ecosystems offer nationally, then for the competitiveness of the sector. Despite the high level in world production that the sector has managed to achieve in the last years, it is clear that it is necessary to strengthen the business side of the agricultural sector. To this end, those individuals involved in the process of productive farming need to develop business capacities that permit the structuring of production plans that are sustainable, achieving the following goals mentioned by Vela (2009): a) increased production with lower costs. B) positive or neutral environmental impact. c) increased value in the farm production system in the future (both economically and environmentally). d) better utilization of available resources (in terms of efficiency achieved through using non productive outputs in a subsystem, as an input for another subsystem), and e) increased capacity of the individuals involved to be able to administer its complexity. Assuming the challenge of sustainability, farm managers need to be guided by a conceptual framework defined by Sustainable and Integral Human Development (SIHD) to achieve a positive transformation in society. To achieve the proposed goals implies assuming the process of production from a systemic perspective, which rather than explaining isolated phenomena, looks to generate knowledge of how the different elements within the system interact, giving the managers of livestock production the capacity to design and redesign production plans that adapt to regional conditions, making the most of available resources, rationalizing the use of base products, maximizing the genetic potential of stock, minimizing losses through the prevention of illness, and maximizing forage production. This methodology is the central theme of a work plan offered by the investigative group “Systemic Farm System Management”, which supports work from the Sustainable Rural Development Program inscribed to the Vice-chancellor of Promotion and Human Development and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of La Salle University, Bogotá, Colombia