Evaluation of the efficiency of organic cotton farmers: A case study from turkey

This paper examines the sustainability of organic cotton production systems as compared with conventional in terms of their economic profitability and technical efficiency. Showing the economic direction and technical efficiency of organic cotton farming is of great importance for guiding policy in relation to organic cotton in producing countries. Though organic cotton has less environmental impact than conventional cotton, it costs more to produce. According to analyses of costs, conventional cotton farms in Turkey were shown to be at an advantage compared with organic cotton farms. Unit costs of organic cotton were calculated at S1.04 kg'1, whereas those of conventional production were $0.85 kg'1. Profit per unit area (ha) was S299.74 for organic cotton, but S616.59 for conventional production. However, no great difference was found between farms in terms of technical efficiency. According to VRS analysis of output and input- oriented data, average efficiencies were 94.90% and 94.18% respectively for organic cotton farms, and 92.62% and 93.27% respectively for conventional cotton farms. This is a cause for concern for the development of organic cotton production in Turkey. Among the principal reasons for the lack of development in organic cotton farming in Turkey are that price premiums given to organic cotton producers are low, farmers are not supported at the stage of changeover to organic production, and that farmers are unable to make long-term contracts.