Measuring the information sources used by sunflower producers in the agricultural activity process and producers' willingness to pay for information sources in edirne province

Sunflower is an important industrial agricultural product today. Sunflower oil is used in public nutrition and has an important place as a raw material in many sectors. According to FAO data, sunflower was produced in approximately 70 countries in 2022. Among these countries, Russia, Ukraine and Argentina are the top three in terms of cultivation area and production amount, respectively. In 2022, Türkiye ranked seventh in terms of production area, sixth in terms of production amount and ninth in terms of yield in the world sunflower production ranking. Edirne province ranks second in sunflower production in Turkey after Tekirdağ. Farmers need agricultural extension and advisory services during agricultural production activities. In Türkiye, different models have tried to meet these needs of farmers. In this thesis, it was investigated how farmers producing sunflower in Edirne province primarily meet their agricultural extension and advisory service needs. Determining the level of satisfaction of sunflower producers with these agricultural extension and advisory services, the type of service they want and how much they will pay per decare if they are provided with the service they want are also among the objectives of the thesis. Primary data were utilized in the research and a questionnaire form was used to collect primary data. Proportional sampling calculation method was used in sample calculation. The margin of error in the sample was 10% and the confidence interval was 99%, resulting in a sample size of 165. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 165 sunflower producers in Edirne province, which is the research area. It was determined that sunflower producers meet their agricultural extension and consultancy needs through chamber of agriculture and provincial organizations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Although the level of satisfaction of sunflower producers with agricultural extension and service received from these units is not very high, it is above average. Sunflower producers stated that agricultural extension and advisory services should be provided by public bodies. For a service to be provided in this way, 35.15% of 165 sunflower producers (58 people) stated that they would pay an average of 48.62 TL per decare per year. This figure corresponds to approximately 1.44% of the 3 366.27 TL per decare obtained by sunflower producers as a result of production on an average of 92.05 decares.