Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Sustainable Management of Improved Rangelands in Kayseri, Turkey

Sustainability of rangeland is adversely affected by many factors in Turkey, as well as in developing countries. The rangeland in Turkey's Kayseri province does not produce the amount of roughage needed by the current number of animals. To improve this situation, the state has encouraged rangeland improvement and management activities to increase the productivity and sustainability of rangelands. The aim of this study is to determine farmers' behaviors and characteristics that affect their use of improved rangelands, especially whether their use maintained the improved level of forage production. Farmers engaged in animal husbandry in 11 villages where rangeland improvement activities were completed in Kayseri constituted the population of the study. Simple random sampling was used to determine the farmers included in the sample with 244 farmers interviewed. Data were collected by administering a questionnaire filled during the face-to-face interviews with each individual respondent. Nonlinear canonical correlation analysis was used in the analysis of the collected data. Results identified farmer characteristics and behaviors affecting sustainable rangeland use, as indicated by maintaining forage productivity greater or equal to 3 200 kg/ha on improved pastures. It has been determined that the contribution of the farmers with a large number of animals, a large land size, producing forage crops, and participating in the rangeland improvement activities is higher in the sustainability and adoption of rangeland improvement and management activities. The results of our study will provide a new and different perspective on how to increase the efficiency and planning of rangeland improvement activities and in the formation of agricultural policies on this subject. (c) 2022 The Society for Range Management. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.