Economic Structure of Quince Farms in Turkey

The aim of this study was to determine the cost and profitability of quince cultivation. Sakarya, Bursa, Antalya, Bilecik and Denizli were the main materials of the research and data were provided from quince farmers in districts and villages where quince farming was intensively performed. The data were obtained from 204 farmers surveyed. The research area constituted 70.2% of the total quince production of Turkey in 2015. The data used in the research belonged to the 2014 production period. Production cost was calculated as 43898.22 TRL in the average of farmers and 2965.11 TRL per decare (0.1ha) in the quince production activity. The average cost per 1kg was 0.78 TRL, the sales price was 1.33 TRL/kg and the profit margin was 0.56 TRL/kg. The gross production value of the quince farms was calculated as 5082.91 TRL in the average for a decare. Absolute profit was determined as 1936.36 TRL for a decare and relative profit was 1.71. There was an increase with TRL112.70 in the absolute profit with the support of government to the farmers. And the relative profit was increased by 0.04 units. The most important cost element in quince farms was marketing. Suggestions for reducing this cost are the provision of producer organization, the increase in the number of cold stores, and therefore the use of cold stores with lower costs. It is important that it should provide various incentives to establish quince processing facilities for entrepreneurs and the support provided should be presented to more special products for the positive effects of the quince production on sustainability and profitability indicators.