PROFITABILTY OF DRIED FIG PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY OF TURKEY

Dried fig production has a great important in the western part of Turkey in terms of foreign trade, farmers income and employment. In this paper, dried fig produced by farmers has been analyzed to determine production costs and profitability level. For this, selected farmers had been interviewed to find out return, structure of costs and profitability level. This is an opportunity to make comparison between products and countries. This is also information for decision makers for subsidizing policies. The production costs and the net profit of dried fig was found to be US $ 1,428/hectar and US $ 372/hectar, respectively. Dried fig production was found more profitable comparing with some other dried fruits. Dried fig producers spend a unit of money and earn 1.25 unit of money. Profitability of dried fig was found to be 125%. This is an indicator for the farmers willing to produce dried fig in their convenient conditions.