عوامل موثر بر پذیرش سیستم های اطلاعات مدیریت مزرعه (FMIS) توسط کشاورزان مرکزی برزیل Factors influencing the adoption of Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) by Brazilian citrus farmers

1. Introduction Brazil is the world’s largest orange producer with 19,077,572 tons produced in 2013 (FAO, 2013). The country also has large orange juice processing companies (Cutrale and CitrovitaCitrosuco), in addition to being a major producer and international exporter of orange juice. Despite the importance of this agrifood chain for the Brazilian economy, since the mid-2000s, the citrus industry has been subject to high price volatility, a shift toward industrial concentration of juice processing companies and problems related to increased pests and diseases in the orchards. These issues have increased the pressure for efficiency gains in citrus production, which has ultimately resulted in the departure of thousands of farmers from the activity. In fact, the number of citrus farmers fell from 15,000 in 2001 to 10,100 in 2013, and area planted with oranges dropped by an average rate of 1.25% per year in the same period (Conab, 2013; FAO, 2013). The economic sustainability of citrus farms in tough market conditions (low output prices, commercial conflicts and increasing institutional pressures for quality and environmental sustainability) is strongly dependent on their efficiency and productivity levels. Differences in the adoption of new production and management technologies are among the main factors that explain differences in the efficiency and productivity of citrus farms in Brazil. Citrus farmers who operate their farms with high total productivity of the factors and positive profitability are characterized by more intense adoption of new production and management technologies (Carrer et al., 2015). Carrer et al. (2015) used stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to estimate farms’ efficiency indexes and the effects of FMIS adoption on these indexes.