The Impact of Turkish Agricultural Policy on Competitiveness of Cotton Production

The specific circumstances of agriculture necessitate this sector to be protected and supported either directly or through institutions authorized by the state in of each country. Therefore, in our country agricultural sector without any supports is inconceivable. Nowadays as a result of the internal as well as external developments agricultural support tools have changed. These changes of policy tools have made macro and micro level analysis of agricultural policies more important. Turkey is one of the countries which have a very suitable ecologic conditions and land resources for cotton production. Turkey’ cotton and textile sector has the potential to create a worldwide economic value. Despite the advantage of yield and quality, the problems affecting the sector as a whole and ultimately reflecting to export competitiveness continues to increase. As a result, Turkey, an important cotton producer and exporter, has become a major cotton consuming and importing country in recent years. In addition to these developments, there is also a remarkable change in the geographical distribution of cotton production. As traditional cotton producing regions Çukurova and Aegean regions’ competitiveness has decreased relative to alternative products. On the other hand in Southeast Anatolian Region cotton acreage is increasing. Therefore, to reveal the competitiveness based on the effective use of state resources with the economic and social costs of existing applications is extremely important in the formulation of appropriate policies in order to ensure economic development and food security. With this study, it is aimed to determine the competitiveness of cotton production in terms of profitability and to measure the effects of agricultural policies at national level. Firstly, agricultural policies applied for cotton production in Turkey will be examined. Policy transfers, resource utilization, costs, private and social profits resulting from these applications will also be presented with Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). Also some important indicators such as Domestic Resource Cost (DRC), Effective Protection Coefficient (EPC), and Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC) will be calculated from PAM framework to measure competitiveness. This method is widely used in the world in the analysis of the impact of policies on production economics and it is a very effective method. PAM is mainly based on benefit-cost analysis. PAM also may be used to generate scenarios for comparison of alternative policies. Besides the secondary data analysis of the effects of policy, the data obtained through face to face interviews with producers selected through stratified sampling method in the 3 regions and 4 provinces with high productions is used