Contracting Tobacco Growing in Turkey

Abstract

Tobacco is a very important product in Turkish agriculture and economy. As a result of a change in the privatization policies, the support of the state in tobacco (production) is abrogated. With the introduction of the new law (No: 4733) the marketing system of tobacco has totally changed and has been replaced with the auction system and contract production. In this study the tobacco production in the year 2002 is scrutinized in order to evaluate the effect of the contract production system on tobacco production by means of a field research in Manisa. The auction system will be launched in 2003, that is why it is not included in this study. According to the research findings the majority of the producers are not satisfied with the contract production system as the contractions are being prepared one-sided and producers do not have the right to haggle. The problems that occured in the application of this new law are suggested to be eliminated by adapting the auction system, akin to the one in the USA, which enables producers to partake in the marketing of the product.