Examining the Relationship between Risk Management and Cooperative Partnership in Agricultural Enterprises: The Case of Antalya Province

Abstract

Due to the nature of agriculture, the farmer cannot find an environment with complete information on every subject while making her plans. The farmer produces the product today, but cannot sell it when farmer wants or plans. Conditions can be very different between the start of production and the time of sale. For example, prices may change, the expected price may not occur in the market, and bad weather conditions may cause product losses. Therefore, the farmer, who has to make decisions about the future, is affected by the mentioned factors. For this reason, knowing the existing risk sources in agricultural production and determining the risk management strategies to be applied emerge as very important issues. In this study, it was aimed to determine the risks faced by the farmers who are partners and non-partners of the agricultural cooperatives in the province of Antalya in the production process and the risk management strategies they apply against these risks. In this context, a questionnaire was applied to the producers in a total of 80 enterprises, 40 of which are partners in agricultural cooperatives and 40 producers who are not partners, in the villages of the districts of Antalya between December 2018 and March 2019. In the study, first of all, the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers were examined, then the risk sources they encountered in agricultural production and the risk management strategies they applied were revealed. Risk sources and strategies according to farmers were evaluated with a Five-point Likert scale. According to the results obtained from the research; It has been determined that 52.5% of the farmers in the enterprises are 50 years old and over, and the average experience period is 27 years. When the enterprises are evaluated in general, the most important risk sources faced by the farmers are listed as changes in product prices, changes in input costs, low yield due to plant diseases and pests, and changes in the economic situation of the country. The risk management strategies applied by the manufacturers against these risks are to plan the expenditures, to produce at the lowest possible cost and to have information about the previous product prices.