Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Anadolu Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi, cilt.33, sa.3, ss.216-225, 2018 (Hakemli Dergi)
This study was carried out to reveal the sources of communication and social network of organic andconventional hazelnut producers in Samsun province. The primary and basic material of the study is thedata obtained from the surveys, interviews and observations of the organic and conventional hazelnutproducers in Çamlıca, Yüksekyayla villages and Ağcagüney town. Both producer groups werecompared in terms of their social networks and communication channels especially on the use ofdifferent fertilizers by making suggestions on how to develop it.The results of the research showed that socio-economic status of the organic hazelnut producers wasbetter than conventional producers in terms of land size, income, cooperation capacity, riskmanagement and agricultural supports. Social Network Analysis (SNA) has shown the graphs ofcommunication networks among the producers, their relationships with different public, private andmass media information sources and especially revealed leader farmers whom functioned as source ofinformation transfer (or even blocker) among them.The relationships in organic hazelnut producers’ communication network in the village are strong,dense and information sources are varied. On the contrary, the relationships in communication networkof conventional hazelnut producers were looser, strong and information sources were uniform. Themain source of technical information for both groups of producers was the experienced leader farmers;as for organic producers, the heads of the local organic producers' union was the main informationsource in terms of commercial, legal and organizational aspects. In other words, both organic andconventional producers rely on knowledge and experience of producers who take on the role of opinionleader within the village. Therefore, innovation and knowledge transfer to farmers can be deliveredthrough these opinion leaders.As a result of the research, it can be said that institutional information sources do not adequately supportorganic and conventional hazelnut growers. Thus, organic producers developed their local knowledgesource based on their on-farm trials and experiences and shared this knowledge within their peergroups. However, this information needs to be supported with scientific findings.