Determination of the Main Socio-Economic Factors of the Sustainable Production of Forage Crops: Research of Kayseri Province

Abstract

Today, about 21% of the Turkey’s population lives engage plant production and animal husbandry; the most crucial aspect  of livestock breeding is producing forage crops. Since 2000, growers in Turkey have been subsidized and encouraged  to increase both their production and quality of forage crops. However, despite all this support and assistance, desired  production levels have not yet been achieved. Therefore, it is equally crucial analyze the effects of factors other than  the subsidies provided on forage crops production. This study aims to determine the socio-economic factors that affect  sustainable forage crops production. The study was carried out in the province of Kayseri, specifically in 11 villages  where both plant production and animal husbandry systems are common. The subjects of the study were selected through  the Random Sampling Method and data was collected by surveying 310 forage crops growers. To identify dependency  relationships between qualitative variables used mainly based on a statistical chi-square statistic. According to the  analysis results, 35.5% of growers found forage crops production sustainable, whereas 64.5% of them thought that it  was unsustainable. When both socio-economic variables and the answers to survey questions were taken into account,  variables such as grower’s age, education level, income level, land for fodder crops, livestock count, recent increase in  livestock count, subsidies, and the conditions under which sustainability may be maintained were found to be related to  forage crops production sustainability.