KIZILTEPE

Mardin Province / Districts Chambers / Commodity Exchanges (Kiziltepe Commodity Exchange, Kiziltepe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mardin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nusaybin Commodity Exchange, Nusaybin Chamber of Commerce and Industry)collaborated with Mardin Artuklu University (MAU) and conducted a field study on the structure of agriculture and livestock farming.

This research, which was carried out with the contribution of the students of the Department of Economics under the coordination ofTOBB / TEPAV and Mardin Province / Districts Chamber / Exchange Academic Advisor and MAU Economics Department lecturer Assoc. Dr Mehmet Behzat Ekinci, is a collaboration between Mardin Artuklu University (MAU) and the Chambers / Commodity Exchanges of Mardin / Districts.

With this field study realized with the participating companies of the 6th International Mardin Agricultural Equipment, Food and Livestock Fair (Magrotex 2019) held in Mardin on 01-04 May 2019; It is aimed to identify the problems related to the agriculture and animal-livestock farming structure of Mardin from the point of view of the companies that are closely related to these sectors and to present the related solution proposals.

15 of them from Mardin, 5 from outside of Mardin (Urfa, Maras, Adana, Antalya, Ankara) in total 20 exhibitors participating in the company, face-to-face survey method was applied with the effort to answer the following 2 (two) main questions.

1- What are your assessments (capacity / problems) regarding the structure of agriculture and animal farming in Mardin?

2- What can be done to solve the problems related to the structure of agriculture and animal farming in Mardin?

The answers given within the scope of the questionnaire were blended and evaluated due to general due diligence.

The results of the research are as follows:

• The firms state that there is a low capacity agricultural activity despite the availability of suitable land in Mardin. Stating that farmers cannot be said to be well-informed of the field, firms emphasize that both agriculture and animal husbandry activities are not at the expected level. Some companies attribute the lack of capacity to insufficient support of producers, although the main source of income is agriculture, in which case they have to struggle alone.
• A striking claim is that producers are prevented by third parties, even if they wish to benefit from the agricultural support provided by the state. One of the biggest problems in agriculture, the producer is not supported and the products of the low price in the stock market is to buy. It is stated that this causes the producer to leave his product in the field and decrease the number of products each year.
• The majority of companies point out that there are problems of access to raw materials and materials for proper production, and that there are problems such as electrical energy, diesel oil, medicine, fertilizer, etc. It is stated that the high prices of agriculture affect agricultural production negatively.

The companies make some proposals to overcome the problems related to food, agriculture and animal farming in Mardin. Some of them are as follows:

• More government support is needed; prices for diesel, fertilizer and medicine should be lowered; the launch of a cold store should be encouraged and suitable grants must be provided for livestock.
• The Ministry of Agriculture should not leave the farmer at the mercy of tradesmen; the system of cooperativeness should be expanded.
• Well-informed agriculture is needed; Producers need to be informed by efficient information / training programs and courses by the Ministry of Agriculture, Provincial / District Agriculture Directorates and related organizations for effective agricultural production.

Mardin Province / Districts Chambers / Commodity Exchanges stated they would continue to collaborate with Mardin Artuklu University and similar stakeholder organizations as well as in cooperation with the city and the region's detections, evaluations and economic policy proposals, including those studies.