Ecuador stands out for being the first traditional producer of fine and aroma cocoa worldwide. However, practices and characteristics (social, technical and economic) persist in production systems that limit the expression of their productivity and quality. Taking into account the multiplicity of variables involved and the complexity of the systemic interrelationships of these forms of production, the objectives of this research were proposed: to typify the cocoa production systems of the province of Manabí, given that this represents the largest area of cocoa grown in Ecuador (130,945 hectares), identify the critical factors that determine these differences between groups and analyze their productive behavior. For this, a sample of 150 producers was taken, to whom a questionnaire was applied. Dimensionless indices were calculated to which cluster analysis was applied. The groups were characterized with descriptive statistics and the critical factors were identified with analysis of variance or 2, depending on the type of variable. The results show the formation of 4 groups with good values for the agronomic index (0.60), but not for the managerial index, whose values do not exceed 0.50. Groups 3 and 4 stand out for their post-harvest indices (0.71 and 0.48, respectively) and show the highest income per hectare (393.91 and 317.31 US$/ha), because they receive a better price. The significant critical factors (p ≤ 0.05) turned out to be postharvest management, agronomic management (fertilization, pruning and irrigation), public services, technical assistance in its relations with the environment and from the managerial point of view, the records management, labor, legalization of the land and being associated. The analysis of the productive indicators by group, allowed us to conclude that postharvest practices have an impact on the income of each producer and the postharvest index will be the most important critical factor to improve the response of the system.