Vet World Vol.18 January-2025 Article - 24
Research Article
Veterinary World, 18(1): 220-227
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.220-227
Characterization and typology of goat production systems in the Southern Highlands of Peru
Background and Aim: Characterizing local animal production systems is crucial for sustainable livestock development. This study aimed to characterize the diversity of goat production systems in the Highlands of Chincha province, Ica, Peru.
Materials and Methods: A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 82 goat breeders in three districts: San Juan de Yanac, San Pedro de Huacarpana, and Chavín. Factor analysis of mixed data and hierarchical classification analysis were conducted to identify typologies of goat production systems using R version 4.4.2.
Results: Four distinct goat production types were identified, primarily differentiated by feeding location and deworming frequency. Type 2 (41.5%) was the most prevalent, characterized by grazing on breeders own land, minimal milk production (<1 liter/day, 91.2%), and a focus on cheese and goat kid sales (70.6%). Breeders were predominantly women, with limited resources and extensive management systems. Across all types, mixed breeding was common, and economic reliance on livestock and agriculture prevailed.
Conclusion: Despite their diversity, all goat production systems shared extensive management practices and resource constraints, resulting in low productivity. These findings highlight the need for targeted public policies to improve productivity and sustainability in goat farming within the Ica region.
Keywords: Chincha Highlands, extensive farming, goat production systems, multivariate analysis, Peru, typology.
How to cite this article: Sessarego EA, Trillo FC, Godoy DJ, Palomino-Guerrera W, and Cruz JA (2025) Characterization and typology of goat production systems in the Southern Highlands of Peru, Veterinary World, 18(1): 220–227.
Received: 2024-07-22 Accepted: 2024-12-18 Published online: 2025-01-30
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2025.220-227
Copyright: Sessarego, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
