New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts

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Functional analysis of fertiliser use on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) farms: a case study from Turkey

Murat Sayili
Hasan Akca

Department of Agricultural Economics
Faculty of Agriculture
Gaziosmanpasa University
60240 Tokat, Turkey
email: muratsayili@yahoo.com

Oral Duzdemir

Department of Field Crops
Faculty of Agriculture
Gaziosmanpasa University
60240 Tokat, Turkey

Abstract Fertiliser use in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) grown under dry conditions was analysed from an economic point of view. In addition, a simple relationship between output (amount of chickpea) and inputs (fertiliser cost, pesticides cost, chickpea production area, labour, and amount of seed) was determined. The Tokat province of Turkey was chosen as the research area because it was the main chickpea production area. To study the effects of fertiliser use on chickpea production, 74 farmers were randomly selected and surveyed. Research findings were as follows: (1) gross and net profit was negative for the fertiliser user group and non-fertiliser user group; (2) lack of technical knowledge and high input prices were the main reasons for unbalanced fertiliser use by farmers; (3) chickpea production area and fertiliser cost were the most important factors affecting chickpea production; (4) chickpea production was little effected by labour; (5) amount of seed and total pesticide cost were not significant in the model; (6) farmers should increase average chickpea production area to use resources efficiently.

Keywords chickpeas; fertiliser;functional analysis; Cobb-Douglas; Turkey

New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2008, Vol. 36: 131–136
0014–0671/08/3602–0131 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008
H07028; Online publication date 18 June 2008
Received 23 March 2007; accepted 1 May 2008

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