Farmers’ Attitudes to the Pricing of Natural Resources for Sustainability: GAP-Şanlıurfa Sampling of Turkey

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate farmers’ attitudes to the pricing of natural resources, mainly water and soil resources, in GAP-Şanlıurfa-Turkey. It will also define farmers’ willingness to accept pricing for the sustainability of resources and explore the potential factors that contribute to such willingness. The data comes from a sample of 1105 farmers in Şanlıurfa who were chosen by a simple random sampling method and participants were interviewed face to face by questionnaires. The logistic regression is used for analysis. The results indicate that 40% of the farmers have a positive attitude to the pricing of resources for protection and sustainability. The most affecting factors are the location of the farmers, the number of agricultural manpower at the household, land amount, ownership status, income derived from agriculture, and livestock. The average willingness-to-pay amount was calculated in USD as $48.8/ha. Where public finance is insufficient to meet the demands, the willingness-to-pay amount may be used in co-investments. In this way, both the financing problem can be overcome and the ownership rate of the users can be increased. Therefore, the results could be helpful for decision- and policy-makers to develop strategies for the sustainability of resources for GAP-Turkey and areas with similar socioeconomic characteristics.

Editorial—Managing and Planning Water Resources for Irrigation: Smart-Irrigation Systems for Providing Sustainable Agriculture and Maintaining Ecosystem Services

“…In this category, one contributed paper was published. Aydogdu (2019) [9] explored the attitudes of farmers to pay for natural resources in the case study of GAP-Sanliurfa (Turkey). Data from about 1000 farmers highlighted that 40% of the interviewed farmers showed a positive attitude to pay for natural resources, with a willingness to pay for about 48 USD per hectare.…”

“…Data from about 1000 farmers highlighted that 40% of the interviewed farmers showed a positive attitude to pay for natural resources, with a willingness to pay for about 48 USD per hectare. The work of Aydogdu (2019) [9] emphasized that the water price for irrigation purposes, despite the pervasiveness of water pricing in developed countries, is still a source of disagreement regarding the appropriate means by which to price water and the levels of water charges. This is partly due to (i) a lack of tradition, experience, and appropriate institutions to price irrigation water in different countries; (ii) common misconceptions and myths associated with irrigation water pricing; and (iii) a lack of definitions and incorporation of equity criteria.…”

The analysis of the recent periods of oat market in Turkey

“…Globally, more frequent climate changes and droughts [1][2][3][4] have started to raise concerns in terms of sustainable agricultural production [5], consequently food security [6], consumption of safe, healthy and nutritious food [7], [8]. The increasing world population brings along the problem of sufficient, quality, and balanced nutrition [9], [10].…”

Is Drought Caused by Fate? Analysis of Farmers’ Perception and Its Influencing Factors in the Irrigation Areas of GAP-Şanlıurfa, Turkey

“…Perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals both affect and are affected by these environments [7]. Most of the problems related to the natural resources and environment are based on the activities of human beings, which cause sustainability problems [8][9][10][11]. Globally, climate change, which is a complex issue with multidimensional causes and effects, is one of the most important problems of our time; much research has been done on issues related to climate change such as high temperatures, more frequent droughts, and changing precipitation patterns [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”