The impacts of agricultural support on enhancing the efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability of sheep breeding: The case of Niğde and Aksaray provinces, Turkey

Aim of the study: The sheep breeding sector in Turkey has lost its potential to become a highly competitive and efficient sector despite a number of policies being implemented over the years. Therefore, the objective of the study was to empirically evaluate the competitiveness of sheep breeding and the determinants of the technical efficiency of the sector as well as the current impacts of agricultural policies on the performance of the sector.Area of study: Niğde and Aksaray provinces of TR71 region in Turkey.Material and methods: The required primary data were obtained through a face-to-face survey from 110 sheep breeders. Two methodological approaches, namely Stochastic Frontier Analysis and Policy Analysis Matrix, were used.Main results: The support policies caused an inefficiency in allocation of already scarce resources in sheep breeding, but not ensure to increase the competitiveness at both national and international levels. Sheep farms could increase their income by up to 50% without changing the level of input by taking into account the factors that caused inefficiency in sheep breeding. The major determinants that decreased efficiency were current subsidies for sheep breeding, herd size and the excessive utilization of family labour, while the factors that increased the efficiency were sheep race, access to extension services, grazing period and location. Besides, Domestic Resource Cost (DRC) value in the efficient farms decreased to 0.88, implying that they had a comparative advantage.Research highlights: Implementation of structural support policies with long term would enhance efficiency of sheep farms and ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of the sector