Comparison of conventional and good agricultural practices farms: A socio-economic and technical perspective

Kılıç O., Boz İ., Aydın Eryılmaz G.

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, cilt.258, 2020 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 258
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120666
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, Aerospace Database, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, CAB Abstracts, Chimica, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, INSPEC, Metadex, Pollution Abstracts, Public Affairs Index, Veterinary Science Database, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Conventional agriculture, Good agricultural practices, Fertilizer and pesticide use, Sustainability, PROGRAMS EVIDENCE, INPUT USE, FERTILIZERS, KNOWLEDGE, PESTICIDES, LEVEL, CHINA, RISK, AREA
  • Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The retailers dominating the fresh fruit and vegetable markets in Europe came together in 1997 to initiate a program that minimizes threats to human health from fruit and vegetable products. They developed the foundations of today's Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) program, which has been adopted by all countries. The regulations on GAP in Turkey were first published in 2004 and revised in 2010 and 2014, with the inclusion of a more comprehensive set of standards. The primary purpose of this study was to compare farms operating on a conventional basis and farms applying GAP, with respect to their use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and also their yields and gross profits. The research was conducted in the Bafra District of Samsun Province, Turkey, which is a highly productive agricultural area. The data were collected through structured and unstructured questionnaires administered to a stratified sample of 56 farmers operating conventionally and 30 farmers engaged in GAP. The average applications of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium on conventional agricultural (CA) farms were 142.3 kg, 81.2 kg and 3.7 kg per hectare, respectively. These amounts were less on the GAP farms by 31.1%, 49.4% and 18.9%, respectively. The average applications of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides on CA farms were 0.8 kg, 0.4 kg and 0.1 kg per hectare, which on GAP farms were lower by 50.0%, 25.0% and 70.0%, respectively. Depending on crop type, converting to GAP decreased yields in the range of 3.3%-20.6%, and gross profits decreased in the range of 2.0%-14.3%, due to the utilization of lower inputs. Therefore, in order to increase the adoption of GAP by farmers, it is important to compensate them for the decreases in yield and gross profit by providing governmental subsidies and support programs. The social benefit of the GAP program is that it reduces the harm caused by pesticides to consumers and also the environmental damage caused by agricultural activities, and therefore makes them more sustainable. The government support, especially financial support given to the GAP program in Turkey, has been highly influential in the adoption of GAP by farmers. However, in order to raise public awareness of the availability of GAP products and increase the demand for them, projects involving all stakeholders, including consumer and marketing groups, are needed. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.