Evaluation of the farms producing dry bean landraces by capital approach in the Middle Kizilirmak Valley of Turkey

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the opinions of the farmers producing dry bean landraces (DBL) at the regional level of Turkey (eight provinces). In total, 140 questionnaire forms were filled by DBL producers. The population and then the sample size were determined according to 2016-year-preliminary-study. The capital structures of the farms according to the production types were evaluated using the Five-Capital-Model approach, and differences were tested by parametric and non-parametric statistical methods. The study showed that 37.86% of the DBL producers produce as the home-garden-type while 62.14% of them as the field-type, which is larger than 0.1 ha. While home-garden-type producers majorly produce for their own family needs, commercial ideas and concerns are at the forefront for field-type producers. While field-type producers have higher values in terms of five capitals, home-garden-type producers move within a more traditional way of production. More than half of the producers indicate that they will continue to produce DBL; this ratio is higher in home-garden-type producers. This indication of approximately 25% of both types of producers wherein their children will continue to produce DBL, there is a need for more human labour, efficiency and profitability concerns, production mostly by the elderly population increasing the risk of future depletion in DBL-genetic resources. This calls for more efforts to increase the awareness among the young population on the importance and protection of genetic resources and to make special policies for the protection of genetic resources by policy makers and develop models based on genetic resources. Copyright © 2019 NIAB.