Abstract
The number of ewes in Portugal registers a decrease since 1998. This decrease is felt particularly in the south of the country, which concentrates almost half of the existing ewes, mainly for meat production. One of the most important ewe production systems is the Montado, a High Nature Value ecosystem, occupying ca. 1.2 million ha in Portugal. The competitiveness of this system among the European ewe production systems is an important issue for the future of the Montado ecosystem. So, the objective of this paper is to analyze the ewe production systems in the Montado, using the agri benchmark database, and compare these systems with other European countries’ systems, ranking their competitiveness and efficiency among other systems in the European Union. We concluded that this methodology facilitated an in-depth understanding not only of the competitiveness and efficiency of ewe production systems in Portugal but also of their positioning regarding other systems in the European Union. The pattern of returns assures that these farms are competitive in the sense that they depend on the market on their decisions, and thus it is important that market values sheep products. Nevertheless, the diversification to other income sources would be a good option for the future sustainability of these farms and the opportunities and risks that these systems will deal with in a new green economy, with probable new functions and new opportunities for land, will be a challenge for the future.
Highlights
Ewe production in Portugal has changed a lot in the last 20 years
We concluded that this methodology facilitated an in-depth understanding of the competitiveness and efficiency of ewe production systems in Portugal and of their positioning regarding other systems in the European Union
Our results show that ewe Montado systems are not capital intensive
Summary
Ewe production in Portugal has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Its numbers have consistently increased from Portugal’s entry into the EU in 1989 until 1998, from 3547 to 3590 thousand animals [1].from 1998 until 2018, the percentage of sheep has decreased almost 40%, reaching2208 thousand animals by the end of this period. Ewe production in Portugal has changed a lot in the last 20 years. From 1998 until 2018, the percentage of sheep has decreased almost 40%, reaching. 2208 thousand animals by the end of this period. This decrease is felt in all Portuguese regions but is noticeable in the south of the country. 60% of the total sheep production and had a decrease from 1883 to 1305 thousand animals during this period, which means that in this region were lost around 42% of the animals lost [2]. Even though we can find some milk ewe production systems in Alentejo, the region’s prime production is meat [2]. The meat is raised in an extensive agro-silvo-pastoral system known as Montado, Agriculture 2020, 10, 184; doi:10.3390/agriculture10050184 www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture
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