An economic evaluation on organic cherry production a case of Turkey

This project had been conducted in Manisa, which is one of Turkey's most important cherry production areas, for the aim of organic cherry production opportunities project, started in 2000. In this study, one variety of cherry has been selected and according to the different fertilization applications, its unit cost (dollar;/kg) and net return per unit ($/ha) in organic production conditions have been completely defined. And finally, these findings have been compared with conventional production conditions of the same variety. The main scope of this study is to determine whether organic cherry production is rational when compared with conventional production in terms of unit cost and net return per unit, and also to give suggestions according to these. The findings of this study have shown that organic cherry production is more profitable when it is compared with conventional cherry production. According to these results, transition from conventional agriculture to organic agriculture for cherry production in Turkey is important for both net return and protection of the environment. Copyright © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.