Contracted agricultural production: A study in Yenişehir district

With the increasing consumer demands and the developments in the food industry, the supply-demand balance has become crucial for the agricultural products to both raw materials and domestic and foreign markets. Contract agriculture, which is a key practice in the production and marketing of agricultural products, is widely used in many products in the world and our country. Contract farming; offers significant benefits for agricultural producers and buyers. To provide the benefits, it is important to investigate the problems experienced and to make them advantageous for the parties by suggesting solutions. In this study, national and international studies on contract agriculture and the problems experienced in its implementation were examined. The results were evaluated with proportional data and chi-square analyzes by conducting a face-to-face survey with the producers engaged in contract farming in Yenişehir, Bursa, which was chosen as the research area. According to the results obtained from the surveys, 93.6% of the participants consider ease of mechanization and transfer in harvest, 90.4% convenience in providing inputs and 86.1% purchase guarantee as the main advantage. On the other hand, 96,8% of the participants consider the preparation of the contracts by the company, 96.8% the legal proceedings take longer to solve the problems, 96.8% deduction for losses, 89.4% the reflection of the losses arising from the inputs determined by the buyer to the payment, 82.9% the higher market value of the product and 81.9% not making the payments in advance as a disadvantage. The problems of contract agriculture, which is an important practice in planning agricultural production, meeting the raw material demands of the food industry, and obtaining better and regular income for farmers, should be resolved. Producers should be supported and it should be ensured that they have a say on the contracts as much as the buyer companies.