The Impact of Livestock Supports on Production and Income of the Beef Cattle Farms: A Case of Samsun Province, Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACTAlthough the beef cattle sector has been considerablysupported during the last two decades, Turkey could not getits self-sufficiency yet. The objective of this case study wasto examine the impacts of livestock supports on productionand income of beef cattle farms. The survey data wascollected from randomly selected 171 cattle farms in Samsunprovince of Turkey. The Treatment Effect Model was usedto measure the impacts of livestock supports on beef meatproduction and gross profit of the farms. The results indicatethat the farmers, who have larger land and herd, highereducation level, keeping farm records, are mechanized andspecialized in beef cattle breeding were more likely to benefitfrom livestock supports than their counterparts. TheTreatment Effect Model highlights that livestock support hasa statistically significant effect on the amount of beef meatproduced whereas it has no statistically significant effect onthe gross profits of the farms. The research recommendedthat the livestock supports are necessary for the sustainabilityof beef cattle farms. The farms should be encouraged to getrecords via Farm Accountancy Data Network and the recordkeeping farms should be supported by higher amounts.