Status of ornamental plant companies in Ödemiş and Bayındır districts of İzmir province, problems and solution proposals

Objective: This research was carried out with the aim of revealing the current status of ornamental plant companies in Ödemiş and Bayındır districts, identifying the problems and suggesting solutions. With the results of the study, it is aimed to accelerate the sectoral development in the region and to increase the contribution of the ornamental plants sector to the economy of the region and the country. Materials and Methods: This study covers ornamental plant companies in Ödemiş and Bayındır districts of İzmir. The study was planned on the companies that are registered in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry District Agriculture Directorates and producer cooperatives in the research districts, selected randomly considering the production areas. To the companies; a questionnaire consisting of 59 questions was conducted by the headings of "business-related questions", "production-related questions" and "commercial questions" and the results were evaluated statistically. Results: While, in Ödemiş disctrict, 55.3% of the companies are big sized companies, 31.9% are medium and 12.8% are small sized companies, in Bayındır, 43.5% of the companies are big companies, 30.4% are medium and 26.1% are small sized companies. It has been determined that, high taxes, high production costs, and lack of government subsidies are the most important problems in companies in Ödemiş and Bayındır districts. Conclusion: Although the companies in Ödemiş and Bayındır have partially oriented towards to production in different plant groups, it is seen that the two regions could not turn this situation into an advantage due to weak marketing and organizational relations. The formation of a joint production-sales organization with an organized structure of these two districts and the establishment of organized production zones for ornamental plants in the region will contribute to the development and commercial gains of the sector.