Abstract
There is a risk of salinity and degradation in soil structure due to excessive irrigation in the GAP-Harran Plain. The purpose of the research is to determine farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for applications of sustainable agricultural land usage practices to avoid salinization in soil based on irrigation problems related to the demands of the farmers’, their needs, and which factors affect their willingness to accept payment. The basic material of the research was obtained through face-to-face questionnaires from farmers who were selected by a method of simple random sampling in 2018. Heckman’s two-stage model was used in the analysis of the data in Stata. According to the results obtained from the research, 27.85% of the participants indicated WTP and the average amount was USD 16.2/hectare. The average WTP is calculated as USD 4.43/hectare for all participants and 735.38 thousand USD/year for the whole plain. The agricultural income, household size, farming experience, land amount, non-agricultural income, education level, working in the non-agricultural sector, and membership of farmers’ union were determined as statistically effective factors. It is necessary to raise the awareness of farmers through extension services. As awareness increases, both WTP and the adoption of applications will increase. The results supply useful data for people working on this subject for the planning and implementation of sustainable usage of resources in Turkey and to regions with similar socio–economic characteristics. This study is the first of its kind in GAP-Harran, Turkey.
Highlights
Agriculture is a strategic sector for all countries for reasons such as food safety, raw material supply to other sectors, and employment
The average amount of agricultural land cultivated by farmers was 17.83 ha and the average agricultural income declared by the farmers was 105,548 TL(Turkish Lira)/year (21,897.9 USD/year)
The factors that statistically increased the willingness to pay (WTP) for those who agree to participate in the payment were those who had between 5 and 9 households, farming experience, working in non-agriculture, and all income groups, while those who had 10 ha of land and above had statistically reduced WTP
Summary
Agriculture is a strategic sector for all countries for reasons such as food safety, raw material supply to other sectors, and employment. Environmental and agricultural sustainability, as well as food safety, are some of the most global issues of concern in recent times [1]. Sustainability is based on economic, social, and ecological factors. The main factors of agriculture are soil, climate, water resources, and nutrients. Of these four basic factors, the conservation of water and soil resources are most suitable for farmer intervention [2]. Excessive cultivation and irrigation cause salinity problems along with structural deterioration in the soil, causing loss of income due to yield-reducing, which is resulting in agricultural sustainability problems. Sustainability is economic and social and a
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