IMPORTANCE OF DAIRY ACTIVITY IN THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO: A SPATIAL ANALYSIS

Dairy farming is one of the most relevant Brazilian agribusiness sectors, given its oustanding socioeconomic importance to food and nutritional security. Brazil is ranked as the sixth largest milk producer in 2019 worldwide. The state of São Paulo alone has been showing a gradual decline in Brazil's representativeness regarding milk production in recent decades. In this context, the general objective of this research is to analyze the dynamics of dairy activity in the state of São Paulo. For such a purpose, this work was developed through an exploratory and quantitative study. 645 municipalities of the state of São Paulo were analyzed and their relevance to the state's dairy activity has been found through an indicator composed of the following variables: milk production, production worth, and milked cows. Its method was based on the Common Factor Analysis and Hierarchical Clusters to allow categorizing and mapping municipalities into high, medium and low levels of importance in terms of their dairy activity. Results revealed that the state of São Paulo suffered a significant reduction in its cattle herd and number of cows milked during the period under analysis, consequently leading to a reduction in milk production. Despite managing to increase its milk productivity rates, the state was unable to follow the nation’s growth trend for this sector.