Abstract

The Brazilian agriculture presents different production systems and a great variation of yield levels as a consequence of the regional inequality. These variations occur mainly because of the lack of technical information and financial support to acquire machinery and equipment used in agriculture. Considering the importance of this information, this study aimed to analyze the mechanization of agricultural properties in the municipality of Dracena/SP. The total number of land holdings in this area is 1,024 and only 149 have wheel tractors; they were classified into groups according to their sizes. Data collection was done through a questionnaire about the characteristics of the production system, mechanization resources, operational cost, and operational intensity. The statistical significance of the experimental data was evaluated by analyses of variance followed by Kruskal Wallis’ test (P<0.05). The analysis revealed that the average values of the mechanization index and the farmed area by tractor were, respectively, 2.53 kW/ha and 103.9 ha/tractor. The analysis further revealed that the field operational cost was minimized with the maximization of the effective operational capacity for any area group.

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