Horticultural Studies (HortiS) 2021, Vol 38, Num, 2     (Pages: 125-133)

Effect of Good Agricultural Practices on Energy Use in Citrus Farming in Turkey: Case of Mersin Province

Osman UYSAL 1 ,Başak AYDIN 2 ,Osman Sedat SUBAŞI 3 ,Erkan AKTAŞ 4

1 Malatya Turgut Özal University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Agricultural Economics, 44210, Malatya, Turkey
2 Atatürk Soil and Water Agricultural Meteorology Research Institute, 39060, Kırklareli, Turkey
3 Alata Horticultural Research Institute, 33740, Mersin, Turkey
4 Mersin University School of Economics and Administrative Sciences Department of Economics, 33110, Mersin, Turkey
DOI : 10.16882/HortiS.1014533 Viewed : 1319 - Downloaded : 554 The study aimed to determine the energy consumption efficiency of citrus production in enterprises that applied and did not apply Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Turkey's Mersin province. Total of 89 citrus producers applied good agricultural practices in Mersin in 2013 and the survey was conducted with all the producers and 26 of these producers produced orange, 28 of these producers produced tangerines, and 35 of these producers produced lemon. In the study, for comparing the enterprises, the same survey was also carried out with the same number of producers who did not apply good agricultural practices. Labor, machinery, diesel, farmyard manure, fertilizers, pesticides, electricity, and water in irrigation were calculated as energy inputs, and citrus production quantities were calculated as outputs. According to research results, fertilizers were determined as the most energy-consuming inputs in citrus production. The energy use efficiency values were 1.83 and 1.53 in orange production, 1.75 and 1.48 in tangerine production, 1.66 and 1.34 in lemon production in the enterprises that applied and did not apply good agricultural practices. Therefore, the energy use efficiency that applied good agricultural practices in enterprises was determined to be higher. Energy productivity results showed that citrus producers who applied good agricultural practices could produce more output than citrus producers who did not apply good agricultural practices. Specific energy results indicated that the citrus enterprises that applied good agricultural practices consumed less energy to produce one kg of the product than those that did not apply good agricultural practices. Non-renewable energy shares were lower in enterprises that used good agricultural practices than in the other group. According to the study's findings, Citrus production enterprises that applied good agricultural practices were more profitable in Mersin province. Keywords : Citrus production Energy use efficiency Good agricultural practices Lemon Orange