Estrutura da tecnologia de produção agrícola regional: uma abordagem da programação de metas

The objective of this study was to analyze the average production functions and the frontiers production function to characterize the structure of the agricultural production technology. Using data of the agricultural census of 1995/96 regarding the mesorregião of the Triangulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba of the State of Minas Gerais the goal programming was used to calculate the parameters of the Cobb Douglas production functions. One of the main conclusions is the existence of significant differences in the level of productive efficiency and in the structure of the production technologies in this Mesorrregião, indicating the bias that is incurred when making decisions only based on the parameters of the average production function. Another important conclusion is the fact that the procedures adopted in this study, shows some evidence about the structural characteristics of the production technology offering better information for the decision makers.