Prediction of Non-Wood Forest Products Trade Using Artificial Neural Networks

Wood and non-wood resources in the forests have occupied a very important place in human's life, since the advent of history. And today, developing technology along with increasing needs enhance the importance of the other functions of forests, in parallel with wood production. Both in the world and as well in Turkey, one of the featured functions of forests is the production of Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP). Certain NWFPs are of high added value and are used in many such fields as food, pharmaceutics, and as well in cosmetics. It is emphatically essential to reveal the potential of these products by conducting studies. Vast contributions could be made to a country's economy by increasing and utilizing these potentials. With this study, it is intended to reveal the existing as well as the future return within a period of six years to the Turkish economy of NWFPs through a utilization of the foreign trade and production data of the gone years.