Assessing the Sustainability of Beekeeping Farms in Turkey: Case of the Aegean Region

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the sustainability level of beekeeping farms in the provinces of Aydın, Izmir, and Muğla in the Aegean region of Turkey. The data were collected through a questionnaire from 149 selected beekeeping farms during 2018- 2019. The study utilized Principle Components Analysis (PCA) to identify 19 basic sustainability indicators for beekeeping farms, which were categorized into economic, social, environmental and general sustainability indicators. Subsequently, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) was employed to determine the weight of each indicator, considering expert opinions. The results showed that the economic sustainability index of beekeeping farms was 0.45, social sustainability was 0.36, environmental sustainability was 0.92, and the overall sustainability was 0.58. The study determined that 14.77% of apiaries in the selected farms were unsustainable, while the sustainability of 38.93% was at risk. The results also showed that transregional migratory beekeeping harmed sustainable beekeeping due to its negative effect on both bee welfare and cost increase.