مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Factors affecting farmers‟preferences in choice of cotton seed in Söke district of Aydın province

Abstract :

The aim of this study is to determine which features are considered by the cotton producers along withtheir socio-economic characteristics at the time of purchase of cotton seeds in Soke District of AydınProvince. In other words, this study was planned to investigate which the following features such asprice, yield, gin productivity, fibre quality, early harvesting and disease resistance are considered by theproducers on their seed preference. It is important to know the seed preferences of cotton producers,before developing new domestic cotton varieties alternative to foreign cotton seeds which have becomewidespread in the region in recent years. Conjoint analysis method was used to determine theproducers‟ seed preferences. Conjoint analysis is one of the methods commonly used in marketingresearches to determine the preferences of consumers. The material of the study was the primary databelonging to the production of the year 2015 obtained by interviewing cotton producers in SökeDistrict. The proportional sample method was used to calculate sampling size. The sample volume wascalculated as 95 % confidence interval and 10 % error margin according to the proportional samplevolume formula. In terms of convenience, 5 more producers were added and negotiations with 100producers were found to be suitable. The ten highest cotton-producing villages, where the interviews tobe conducted, were selected from the Farmer Registration System - ÇKS). According to the results ofthe study, the preference card rankings of 100 producers and their partial benefit scores for each feature level were obtained. According to this analysis, it was determined that the first factor considered more by the producers in cotton seed variety preference was gin productivity with a rate of 21.31 %. The second most important factor was the seed price, having a rate of 18.69 %. It was recommended that cottonseed producers and institutions, which work on the development of new varieties, focus on especially gin efficiency. In this context, maintaining the certified seed support with respect to cottonseed is also important for the certified seed use of the producer.