Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to find out the problems experienced by businesses producing hazelnut in Samsun in the production and marketing stages, to compare these problems and to develop solutions for these problems. To this end, face to face questionnaires were conducted with the owners of 190 businesses determined through stratified random sampling method from hazelnut businesses on the lowlands of Çarşamba and Terme towns of Samsun, where the production of hazelnut is the densest in Samsun. 96 hazelnut businesses in Çarşamba plain and 94 hazelnut businesses in Terme plain were grouped in terms of the land size and the businesses were chosen in proportion with the size of stratification from each group. The data were both presented numerically to determine the state and also the differences between groups and plains were compared and assessed through statistical analyses. The results of the study show that the biggest problem in hazelnut production is the cost of input used in production in both plains. This problem was followed with the low price of the product in both plains and the ambiguity of the markets, respectively. In the marketing stage, the most important problem is the low price of the product in free market in both plains. In addition, the second problem for businesses in both plains during marketing was the fact that producers did not act together. In businesses in both of the plains, it was found that a great majority of the businesses did not consider uprooting their hazelnut gardens although they knew that growing hazelnut was not legal in bottom lands. In addition, it was found that a great majority of the businesses in both plains did not consider any production alternative to hazelnut. The difference between plains was found to be statistically significant for the most part and the sizes of the businesses were not found to be effective in the change in general.

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