Risks and risk strategies on olive farming in Milas district of Mugla province, Turkey

The producers are faced to various risks due to special characteristics of agriculture. These risks could cause yield losses resulting in decreasing of farms' profit, which necessitates developing of various strategies during the production process. In terms of its agricultural structure, Mugla province, which makes up 8.5% of total olive production in Turkey, is quite suitable for olive farming. The added value of olive to the economy of Mugla province is approximately 5.61%. With respect to agricultural land, number of trees and production quantity, olive raising has a special place to local economy of the Milas district. Nearly 2/3 (63.50%) of total production in Milas district is covered by olive farming. In 2008, 60.86% of olive trees and 60.51% of olive production quantity in Mugla is provided from this region. In this study, the risks faced by olive producers in Milas district and determining the strategies developed were aimed. The data were collected by means of face-to-face interviews with producers. The Likert scale measurement was used to determine risk sources and risk strategies. The most important risk source was periodicity problem which is the result of structure on olive. Other risk sources were yield loss, climate conditions, diseases and pests. On the other hand, risk strategies against to risk sources were increasing domestic controls, providing technical support for continuous production, development of new techniques for improvement and adjustment of olive gardens.