Rahmiye Figen Ceylan

Although Türkiye is among the leading producers of cherries worldwide, its export performance does not fully reflect its production potential. This gap points to the importance of understanding how trade incentives, destination-market demand, and trade costs shape export outcomes in high-value horticultural products. This study investigates the determinants of Türkiye’s fresh cherry exports during 2015–2023 by combining a gravity trade model with machine learning approaches. The empirical framework incorporates export support mechanisms, macroeconomic indicators of partner countries, import demand, and geographical distance between Türkiye and its trading partners. It was found out that trade incentives have a positive effect on cherry exports; showing support mechanisms can strengthen Türkiye’s competitiveness in international markets. The findings also reveal that rising import demand in destination countries stimulates exports, while geographical distance and adverse changes in importer income conditions limit export performance. These results suggest that maintaining export incentives alone may not be sufficient; rather, support policies should be adjusted according to market-specific demand conditions, income dynamics, and trade-cost factors. By integrating policy variables with destination-market characteristics, this study provides empirical evidence for designing more effective export support strategies for Türkiye’s cherry sector.

Milk is an important source of many nutrients, including protein, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins B2 and B12; and needs to be consumed at all ages. Teenagers that are at the tertiary level of their education process face with new nutrition habits. Many start to skip breakfast or lunch and start consuming fast food or artificial nutrients and drinks frequently. These changing attitudes among university students lead to nutritional deficiencies, even if it is not identified at early ages. Accordingly, university level students need to be directed as consumers of milk and milk-based products for adequate and balanced nutrition. To extend marketing orientation for dairy products towards younger generations, it is important to understand their needs and nutritional requests. This study determined the milk and dairy product consumption attitudes of university students with a sample from Türkiye in order to focus on potential policy proposals to promote milk among young adults. The factors influencing milk and dairy product consumption and their effects were identified and differentiated based on socio-economic characteristics of the targeted students including their seniority level. Within this scope, a face-to-face survey was conducted with a total of 350 university students that study at the center of Antalya province from the Mediterranean region of Türkiye. The factors affecting milk consumption among the target group were analyzed based on probability. The findings indicated that an increase in age and income levels led to higher milk expenditure enhanced the tendency to consume milk. It was also found that for the group with a strong preference to consume long-life and packaged milk, their additional demand diminished after satisfying their basic needs. For university students with lower price sensitivity, promotional activities and alternative marketing strategies were identified as potentially effective approaches that can be used as tools to develop the market for milk and milk products.

Tomato, a vital subtropical vegetable crop, is in demand globally but is produced in limited regions. Recently, its supply has become increasingly influenced by internal and external production factors. This study analyzed the impact of price fluctuations and evolving agricultural support schemes on tomato production in three key producers: Mexico, Türkiye, and the United States, which play significant roles in the global market with specialized production and trade. Using time-series price response data from 1991 to 2022, the research examined market prices, government support policies, and international trade agreements. Long-term price effects were similar in Türkiye and the USA but negligible in Mexico. Short-term price differences were positive across all countries, with the strongest impact in the USA. Financial support programs increased supplies in alignment with time-based effects. Deviations from long-term equilibrium were corrected in all countries, with Türkiye showing the fastest recovery. The results suggest that decoupled supports positively influence supply and merit further promotion.

Earthquake is a foremost natural disaster with its potential of occurrence and frequency for Turkey. The recent Kahramanmaras earthquake that took place in the southeastern Turkey in 2023 was catastrophic. This catastrophe reminded the necessity of having awareness of and getting prepared for potential awaited earthquakes. With this research it was aimed to measure the intention of the society to get prepared for earthquakes in the southwestern region of Turkey that pose significant earthquake risk. The probability of having compulsory earthquake insurance (CEI) was estimated in Finike and Demre towns of Antalya, Turkey in 2023 posterior to the Kahramanmaras earthquake. It was understood that with rising education, awareness and age, the probability of having insured rises in the representative districts. Yet, with ageing residency/building and random information, the probability declines. This early response emphasized the importance of scientific information of the society and better promotion of precautionary actions in the region and in Turkey.

Agritourism as a niche tourism market has become an alternative income-generating sector for conventional farmers that focus on both production and marketing. Agritourist activities involve joining production and harvest, receiving education and on site-training. However, unless individuals endeavor and they consistently demand these activities, agritourism cannot be promoted among farm operators. In other words, agritourism is a demand-driven sector and requires the loyalty of participants which was measured with respect to more than a single take up of agritourism in the past two years. With this research, the loyalty of agritourists and the factors affecting their persistent participation were estimated based on a sample from the Mid-Atlantic states of the USA. The findings infer that agritourism loyalty is stimulated by the rising level of agritourist education and increasing income. Married people with children also prefer rural participation. Agritourists, who have the potential to become loyal, focus above all on buying fresh and high-value products. Following this, they demonstrate a rising tendency to learn about agricultural production, and to spend quality time with family/friends. These results suggest that with proper marketing strategies, supportive actions designed for farmers that seek alternative income, and the involvement of regional/local authorities in decision making and promotional processes, may contribute to the development of agritourism and expand its market through assuring customer loyalty.

Mushroom is an important fresh vegetable for the Turkish consumer market. However, mushroom production can only be carried out in a few places due to its specific climatic and geological requirements. The amount of mushroom produced in Türkiye was 55455 tonnes in 2020, 33518 tonnes of which (60%) was cultivated in Korkuteli town of Antalya/Türkiye. The main purpose of this research was to estimate the level of profit efficiency and determine factors affecting inefficiency of mushroom cultivation in Korkuteli/Antalya. Accordingly, 60 producers were interviewed in Korkuteli in 2020. Respecting effective exchange rate of 28th October 2020 ($ 1= 8.21 TL) the average per unit profit of producers was calculated as $ 24.98 and average profit inefficiency as 44%. The inefficiency score was estimated against socio-economic items relevant to individual farms or farmers with stochastic profit frontier approach. Gender, education and satisfaction levels of the producer and duration of harvest and registry to the Farmer Registration System (CKS) appeared as factors reducing profit inefficiency. However, age of the farmer, garden use of waste compost and mushroom sales through intermediaries were detected as inefficiency rising factors. Due to the findings, supporting female producers, providing applied training and courses, developing approaches to raise the satisfaction level of producers and supporting CKS registry were proposed. In addition, it was concluded that establishment of a waste compost centre and reopening the producer union, that was shut down earlier, might reduce profit inefficiency.

The purpose of the study was to assess the changing supply and export of the main types of fresh fruits and vegetables from Turkey to Russia. The task of the research was to analyse the problems that arise during the supply and export period, substantiate these problems and find ways to solve them. Turkey is well endowed with agricultural resources and able to meet external demand after meeting domestic demand especially in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables. Turkey’s main and most important trade partner is Russian Federation, specifically for these products. Accordingly, it is important to evaluate the attachment of the markets considering overall productive capacity and export demand in Russia. The data for main fresh fruits and vegetables being exported from Turkey to Russia was assessed regarding the change in time and potential affecting factors. Main exportable agricultural products selected for evaluation are tomatoes and onions as vegetables and mandarins and grapes as fruits. The yearly adjusted data is withdrawn from the databases of the Food and Agriculture Organisation for production and the United Nations COMTRADE for trade. In the scope of this paper, it was aimed to evaluate changing supplies and exports of main fresh fruits and vegetables to Russia, challenges occurred in time and reasoning behind these challenges, and proposing potential improvement paths. Russia is the main importer of Turkish citrus fruits (mandarins) tomatoes, grapes and onions. It was seen fluctuations in the trade of these products due to marketing conditions including diplomatic situations between the two countries. It should be pointed out that historical contacts and geographical dependency leads to countries to maintain contacts and it was considered as essential to empower both supply and demand sides through cooperation in many areas.

The purpose of the study was intended to understand whether the Russian Federation and Turkey are efficient in wheat and mandarin trade in comparison with other significant exporters. The neighbourhood is an important aspect for developing and maintaining trade contacts. Within this perspective, the Russian Federation has been the main purchaser of Turkish fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, one of the major export products of Russia sold to Turkey is wheat in addition to energy and industrial inputs. Well knowing the importance of these product groups to both countries, it was intended to evaluate these countries rivalry in export markets concerning for their competitive countries. Authors used methods that allow to directly or indirectly assessing the degree of export competitiveness of the state: methods of comparative advantage analysis (RCA) and comparative export indicators (CEP). Wheat export of Russia and mandarin export of Turkey were compared with competitive exporters via calculation and interpretation of trade indices from 2000 to 2019. The findings indicated that Russian exports are superior to their competitors when some years were set apart. The specific overriding country has been Kazakhstan for Russian wheat, even if the productive capacities cannot be compared. Besides, Turkey ranks second after Spain for mandarin exports due to the comparative advantages. However, assessment of the findings in details indicated that there is a need to develop supporting policy and tools for two cases to increase the profitability and efficiency of the export. This is due to lower per-unit export gains and should be intervened to improve and strengthen the countries’ trade positions.

Around the end of 2019 through to 2020, the world had to encounter an outbreak of the novel COVID-19, a globally devastating virus, leading to mass losses and socio-economic panic. The impacts of previous SARS-COV and MERS-COV on macro-economic conditions, income level and labour market composition of 26 selected countries were evaluated within this paper in order to make economic inferences for COVID-19. The evaluation signed that the more fatal SARS-COV had depreciating effects on all economies in the sample, while MERS-COV had affected a more limited number of countries. Yet, the past epidemics mostly affected the labour market and services sector, as emphasized by the literature on economics of epidemics. It can be foreseen that, the services sector will be affected negatively with supply and labour demand aspects even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, changing consumption attitudes and the rising tendency for online shopping may lead a closer correlation between agriculture and services sectors in terms of delivery services. It might be possible to understand such impacts as more micro-data can be analysed in the future.

Like wars and socio-politic shifts, contagious diseases have changed the economics and politics of the world throughout history. In 2020, the world faced COVID-19, a globally effective virus leading to mass losses and socio-economic panic. Due to apparent psycho-social conditions, analyzing the potential economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was inevitable. Thus, discussing economic effects of previous global and regional epidemics is considered beneficial. This research evaluated most of the known epidemics and their effects on economics and socio-politics by reviewing scientific literature. In addition to the vast literature and observations on the ongoing process, we assessed the potential impacts of COVID-19 and potential ways to overcome these impacts. The most urgent socio-economic measures needed to combat the negative effects of a contagious disease are related to unemployment with its income effects and security of all sectors. To prevent persistent unemployment, service, retail, and even industrial sectors need to be supported. Additionally, we discussed the need for re-organizing the funding and managerial sustainability of healthcare services to be prepared for future.