THE ATTITUDES OF CORN PRODUCER FARMERS’ FOR THE PAYMENT FOR AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND CONSULTANCY SERVICES: ŞANLIURFA SAMPLING

Abstract

Nowadays, it is a necessity to increase the productivity of agricultural production in order to meet the food needs of the increasing and diversified population. Corn plants are grown in different climatic zones and in many parts of the world and they have different usage areas. Corn plant is cultivated widely in Turkey the first and second products. Turkey is the importer of corn. Generally, farmers constitute the least educated part of the society. It is very important to support the farmer with agricultural extension and consultancy services in order to provide and increase the expected benefits from agriculture. The aim of this study is to determine the views of corn farmers in Şanlıurfa on agricultural extension and consultancy services and their attitudes towards payment. For this purpose, 294 farmers were selected by simple random sampling method and in 2017 production season, surveys were conducted through face-to-face interviews. The data were analyzed by hypothesis tests with Chi-square test in SPSS. According to the results obtained from the participants, the need for technical support during agricultural activities is 79%. The rate of farmers' willingness to pay for income-increasing extension and consultancy services is 57%. The factors effective in these results are the farmer's level of education, land quantity and farming experience. These factors are statistically significant at level of p <5%. On the other hand, there is a marginal significance between the age of the farmer and attitude towards payment at a level of p<10%. The range of actors providing service delivery in the agricultural extension has expanded. Therefore, public auditing and regulation are of great importance. The results of this study can be used by decision and policy makers for effective agricultural extension and consultancy services.