A study on the effects of cotton production policies on producers and exporters in Turkey

Cotton, an industrial plant, is grown in approximately 75 countries around the world. It is a strategic product used as a basic input in the textile and food industries. Cotton; It is a plant with high economic value that provides significant employment opportunities and added value in production chains such as gin, weaving and textiles during the processing stages.Depending on the policies applied to the sectors, the amount of cotton production in Turkey has decreased over the years. In our thesis, it was tried to determine how cotton producers producing in Izmir perceive the incentives and production policies given for production and their attitudes towards the policies. In addition, it was tried to determine the problems in the export process of the gin, weaving and textile enterprises, which are important actors in the cotton sector, and the effects of these supports given to producers on the sector.In the first part of the thesis, conceptual information about cotton plant and sector is given. In the second part of the thesis; The satisfaction levels of cotton producers in Izmir province were measured and the adequacy of financial supports was demonstrated. For this purpose, the results of the survey with 219 manufacturers were analyzed using the SPSS program. Primary data were obtained through face-to-face surveys using simple incidental sampling. The survey looked at a variety of questions to determine cotton producers' perspectives on agricultural support policies. Depending on the sets of data obtained, the hypothesis was developed with Cross Table, Pearson Chi Square, T Test, One Way Anova, Pearson Correlation and Games-Howell tests. In the third part of the thesis; 9 senior officials of companies exporting in cotton sector, ginning, weaving and textile activities were interviewed. It has been tried to determine the problems of enterprises caused by cotton producers and how production policies for cotton producers affect the cotton sector.The findings of both studies were discussed and recommendations were developed for the future of the cotton industry.