A Study on the Factors Affecting the Dairy Policy O pinions of the 2013 Turkey National Dairy Summit Participants

Abstract

This study has three main objectives. Firstly, to p ut forward 2013 Turkey National Dairy Summit participants’ opinions about milk poli cy; secondly, to determine the possible factors affecting these opinions and final ly; to put forth the solutions which were suggested by the participants for the determined pr oblems. To achieve these goals, 83 participants were interviewed in the dairy summit. 43% of participants were agricultural engineers, 19% food engineers, 14% veterinarians, a nd 24% of them were from other occupations. The opinions of the participants on cu rrent milk policies in Turkey have been categorized as; ‘effective’, ‘undecided’,’ ine ffective’, ‘not effective at all’. When responses of ‘effective’ were compared to the other three opinion groups using multinomial logistic regression, the results showed that factors such as, participants’ being an agricultural engineer, a veterinary practi tioner, their education levels and their involvement in milk related issues within their occ upation have distinguishing characteristics. Among the participants, 40% were o f the opinion that the subsidiaries should be subject to milk quality and hygiene stand ards. Study findings indicated that a milk strategy plan should be prepared for the milk market to gain stability in the long term. To be effective in the market, this plan also should include regional feed and production strategy and should be prepared together with dairy farmer organizations. Keywords: Dairy Policy, Dairy Policy Tools, Turkey.