Risk sources and risk management strategies in dairy farming: A case of Adana province

This thesis aims to determine and analyze farmers' risk perceptions and risk management strategies in dairy farming. Data were obtained in 2014 (December) and 2015 (February and March) from face-to-face interviews of 96 dairy farmers in Yüregir and Saricam district of Adana province in Turkey. Factor analysis was used in data reduction to identify a small number of factors related to risk sources and risk strategies in this study. Then, multiple regression model was used to evaluate the influence of socio-economic characteristics and communication behavior on the farmers' risk perceptions and risk management strategies using factor loadings. The results of this study show that the most important risk resource that the farmers' perceive is variability in feed prices and risk management strategy that the farmers' perceive is take precautions to prevent disease. The result of factor analysis showed that the risk scale consists of 8 factors explaining 70,24 % of total variance. The internal consistency coefficient Cronbach Alfa of the scale was 0,808 and KMO was 0,732. The risk management scale consists of 6 factors explaining 67,78 % of total variance. The internal consistency coefficient Cronbach Alfa of the scale was 0,775 and KMO was 0,746. According to the results perceptions were farmer-specific, a number of socio-economic variables and communication behavior were found to be related to risk and risk management. To improve risk management strategies is useful for farmers as well and might help them to avoid many risks and reduce losses.