Technical and economical records in the Capra hircus - Aloe vera production systems in the community of Cauderales, Urdanetamunicipality, Lara state, Venezuela

This research was developed in the semiarid region of Cauderales in Lara state, Venezuela. Records of 15 farms belonging to the Production Innovation Socialistic Red (PISR) of goat-Aloe were evaluated. Surveys with open and closed questions and interviews were conducted. The data collected was analyzed trough the frequency analysis and correlation. The results indicated that 64% of the farmers are older than 40 years, 44% had elementary school level and 52 had more than 20 years of work experience in the fi eld, 20% are dedicated to goat production and 27% to aloe cropping and 53% to both activities. On the other hand, 80% had used production records and only 12% had received instructions in those matters. With regard to the kind of record used, 75% of the farms took information of the births, 50% about health problems, 34% recorded the incomes and outcomes, 20% kept records of the machinery and equipments, 13% had records of the surroundings such as kind of soils, trees and water supplies and 100% had documents of land properties. Same wise, 26% of the farmers considered that the main reason to keep records is for decision taking. It can be concluded that the majority of the farmers had used some kind of record in their farms, with a high tendency of using technical records, there was no evident correlation within variables such as age of the farmers, instruction level, kind of economical activities, participation in formal organizations and previous courses about record with regard to the production records.