MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES AND DEVELOPMENT METHODS IN ORGANIC PRODUCTION

Abstract

Organic farming in Turkey was carried out for the export of traditional export products such as dried figs, raisins and dried apricots in the mid 1980's, in order to enter new markets in the direction of the demands of consumers in developed countries. In the following years, product range has been expanded by including products such as hazelnuts and cotton to these products. In this context, organic product varieties have consistently increased in both production and exports over the years.
In this study, the commercial volume of organic products in Turkey; marketing opportunities and development methods in organic production; problems encountered in marketing organic products and measures to be taken to solve these problems are included in the findings. A significant portion of organic products produced in Turkey is for the foreign market; and the products that cannot be exported are delivered directly to the domestic market or consumed with the conventional market products.
One of the most important problems producers face when marketing organic products is that marketing firms work with fewer producers. Range of products produced or certified by using organic methods in Turkey is very small. Since the domestic market is not sufficiently developed, there is no market to create an alternative for the producer. Moreover, since the promotion of the domestic market can not be done sufficiently, finding a place to sell the product can create problems. As a result, in organic product marketing; limited range of products, insufficient research and development activities, inadequate state support, inability to make a good planning, inadequate knowledge levels of producers and consumers, inability to obtain healthy information about the acquisition of organic productsare among the problems encountered. At the point of solution of the problems, efforts should be made to inform producers and consumers about organic products and to raise awareness; in order to develop the domestic market, product diversity should be increased and more producers should be introduced to the domestic market; at the same time, an information network should be established that is easy to access and accurate to transfer.