Risk Sources Encountered by Farmers in the Open Field Production of Strawberry and Risk Management Strategies: A Case of Menemen- Emiralem District of Izmir

Abstract

© 2014, Ankara University. All rights reserved. This study aims to determine and analyze farmers’ risk perceptions, risk management strategies in strawberry production under open field. Data were obtained in 2010 production year from face-to-face interviews of 52 open-field strawberry farmers in Menemen-Emiralem district of Izmir province in Turkey. Factor analysis was used in data reduction to identify a small number of factors related to risk sources and risk strategies in this study. Then, multiple regression model was used to evaluate the influence of socio-economic characteristics on the strawberry farmers’ risk perceptions and risk management strategies using factor loadings. The results of this study show that the most important risk resource that the strawberry farmers' perceive is arise from the lack of production capacity. “Sustainable income” was the most important risk management strategy factor that was significantly perceived by strawberry farmers. As a solution to lack of capacity, strawberry farmers should be specialized on strawberry growing to increase the capacity providing soil fertility, improve the product quality and application of new agricultural technologies, instead of product diversification. In terms of sustainable income, strawberry farmers should focus more on the application of alternative marketing methods, such as direct marketing from field to consumers. By forming their own cooperatives, strawberry farmers should furthermore, access to alternative market channels.