Agriculture, which includes many aspects like vegetative and animal production by utilization of soil and water resources and enhancement of efficiency and quality, has been considered the most environmentally-friendly sector up to date and meets nutritional demand of one fifth of world population. On the other hand, due to utilization of intensive input for maximization of yield per unit area of land, agriculture has become a sector which may also result negative impacts on the environment. For this reason, environmentally-friendly agricultural policies have started to be implemented in many countries besides the implementation of policies based on increased agricultural production. In this context, Environmentally Based Agricultural Land Protection (ÇATAK) Program has started to be implemented in Turkey since 2006 for protection of soil and water quality, prevention of erosion and mitigation of agriculture-derived negative impacts. The Program is executed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Within this scope, environmentally-friendly practices are being supported by awarding grants to the beneficiary farmers. This study aims to address the extent to which implementation of ÇATAK Program has contributed to land protection based on a review of environmentally-friendly agricultural practices and beneficiary activities. Additionally, the place of environmental subsidy is assessed within the agricultural funding scheme being implemented in Turkey.
The objective of this research was to assess satisfaction levels of the insured farmers towards TARSİM agricultural insurance services. The study was conducted on the farmers engaged in apricot production in Malatya province of Turkey, the world's largest provider of apricots. About 69.88% of Turkey's dried apricot production and about 73.44% of the world dried apricot production are based in Malatya. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a random sample of 187 farmers. Likert scale questionnaires were used to collect opinion data of farmers on five dimensions, namely sales and marketing, damage compensation, pricing and payment policy, customer notification and customer representation. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the association between the measured variables and overall satisfaction levels. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that all dimensions had statistically significant effects on farmer satisfaction. Additionally, according to the standard estimations, satisfaction from sales and marketing, satisfaction from customer notification and satisfaction from damage compensation were the most significant determinants of customer satisfaction. Pricing and payment policy had the lowest influence on farmer satisfaction. The study results showed that efficient and rapid resolution of farmer problems and grant of ease for premium payments were the most influential factors affecting farmer satisfaction.
Agriculture is a leading strategic sector in Turkey as it is in entire world. Despite this strategic significance, risks, and uncertainties, the dependence on natural conditions turns agriculture into a disadvantaged sector. Just because of these disadvantages, agriculture is protected by various support policies throughout the world. recommend for Turkey that the share of agricultural supports in total budget should be increased to levels in those countries.
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