Profit efficiency on culture mushroom growing in Korkuteli district

The main purpose of this research is to evaluate profit efficiency of mushroom cultivation and determination of the factors inducing the inefficiency and their impact level. Detection of effects of production costs on income and profit became essential for evaluating profit efficiency. Accordingly, revaling input-output relationship in mushroom cultivation quantitatively takes place among research objectives. Accordingly, it was aimed to develop policy proposals for sustainability of mushroom cultivation and generating outputs to contribute profitability of the process. Due to ten years data of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 35.571 tonnes of mushroom on average are cultivated per year in Turkey. Turkey ranks the sixteenth due to these data. Due to the data of Tuskish Statistical Institute (TUIK) on the other hand, 55.455 tonnes of mushroom were cultivated in Turkey in 2020. In the same year, 33.518 tonnes of mushroom were cultivated in Korkuteli town of Antalya province. These data infer that Korkuteli town provided 60% of total mushroom supplies in 2020 alone. Accordingly, a face-to-face survey study was conducted in Korkuteli town among 60 producers selected with purposive sampling to evaluate profitability of the process. The costs of producers varying due to production within 2020 October-November period were analysed. The average per unit profit of producers was walculated as 205,09 TL. It was concluded that the costs born by producers appeared as compost, variable labour and energy costs in a consecutive order. Average compost cost was 175,45 TL per unit production land. The average variable labour cost was calculated as 41,05 TL and energy cost as 20,95. The impact of relevant cost of the enterprises on gross profit was estimated with stochastic profit frontier approach in the scope of the research. Unit gross profit inefficiency was found out as 44% as a result. Gender, education and satisfaction levels of the producer and duration of harvest and registry to Farmer Registration System had appeared as factors reducing profit inefficiency. However, age of the producer his/her use of waste compost in the garden and making mushroom sales through intermediaries were detected as inefficiency rising factors. Due to the findings retrieved, supporting female producers in the town, raising number and quality of applied training and courses, developing approached to raise satisfaction level of producers and supporting CKS registry were proposed. In addition, it was concluded that establishment of a wate compost centre and reopening the producer union that was shut down earlier might reduce profit inefficiency.