The Effects of Subsidizing Forage Production on Animal Production in Van, Turkey

Abstract

In last 5 years, government of Turkey (ministry of agriculture) is subsidizing forages cultivation, therefore forage cultivated area and forage production is increasing continuously in Van. That forage production is also affecting stock breeding positively. However, there is a lack of information on amount of forage production and increases on animal product in the region. The data belonged to 2007 production period and were collected from 441 forage producing farmers face to face by means of questionnaires. Forage production area in each farm was 2.51 ha, which were mainly alfalfa (2.09 ha), sanfoin (0.36 ha), vetch (0.01 ha) and silage corn (0.04 ha). Average cow number in each farm was 11.82 (5.28 dairy and 6.54 fattening cattles) and average sheep number was 46.66. Forages produced in each farm were used to feed animal in same farm. Produced forages just met 81.40% of requirement of farms. Concentrate feeds are provided from feed-milling companies. Forage production increased 2.21 folds within last 5 years. However, numbers of dairy cows and sheep increased only 23 and 18%, respectively. Even though there was a considerable amount of increase in forage production with subsidies, this increase was not seen in animal production. Thus, it can be said that subsidizing forage production did not adequately met the goal.