Investigation of oppurtunities for improving the export of plant-based non-wood forest products

Forests offer various benefits to society. The enjoyment of these benefits has varied over the years. In the past, humankind focused on obtaining wood raw materials from forests, but today, besides wood production, it focuses on providing non-wood forest products, supporting rural development, and its positive effects on soil, water, air and climate. Forests provide economic benefits as well as environmental, biological and social benefits. Today, besides wood raw material, non-wood forest products are among the economically evaluated forest products. It is clear that the economic benefit to be obtained from forests can increase with non-wood forest products. In this study, it is aimed to determine the factors affecting the export of non-wood forest products of plant origin and to make suggestions to contribute to the increase of exports. For this purpose, a survey was conducted for companies exporting non-wood forest products of plant origin. With the survey study, the evaluations of the companies regarding the problems that are thought to be encountered in the processes from the production to the export of the products and suggestions for the solution of these problems were determined. In addition, the products exported by the companies, the income they earn, the factors that occur in the formation of purchase and sale prices are stated. The analysis of the obtained data was carried out with excel program and IBM SPSS software. Factor analysis was applied to reveal the most important factors affecting exports. The vast majority (87.5%) of the officials dealing with exports are men. At the same time, a significant majority (80.37%) of the officials are university and postgraduate graduates. As a result of the factor analysis, it has been revealed that conscious production, freshness of the products, sufficient knowledge and experience, action plan, institutional arrangements, costs and government support are among the most important factors in exports. It was found that 43 non-wood forest products of vegetable origin were produced in our country, but it was concluded that the production and export of certain products such as bay leaves, thyme and rosemary were emphasized. However, it has been understood that the production of these products is not sustainable. In addition, it was concluded that there are differences in product diversity in official documents, there is no conscious production, government institutions are only involved in the production of products, plans and collaborations for products are insufficient, and solutions for these problems are presented.