A CASE STUDY FOR PRODUCTION SYSTEM …

1 Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 16 (No 4) 2010, 512-520 Agricultural AcademyA CASE STUDY FOR PRODUCTION SYSTEM ANALYSIS OF TURKISHANGORA goat FARMSI. DASKIRAN*1, S. CANKAYA2, N. K. DARCAN3 and E. GUNES41 FAO/SEC Sub-Region of Central Asia, Ankara, Turkey2 Ondokuz Mayis University, Dept. of Animal Science, Agricultural Faculty, 55139, Samsun, Turkey3 Cukurova University, Dept. of Animal Science, Agricultural Faculty, 01330, Adana, Turkey4 Ankara University, Agricultural Economics Dept., 06110 Ankara, TurkeyAbstractDASKIRAN, I., S. CANKAYA, N. K. DARCAN and E. GUNES, 2010. A case STUDY for productionsystem analysis of Turkish Angora goat farms. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 16: 512-520 The aim of this STUDY was to determine both the current economic situation and the major characteristics ofAngora goat farms. For this STUDY , 100 goat farms were surveyed in the Ankara province, specifically, the Polatli,Gudul, Ayas, Beypazari, and Nallihan district, to examine the role breeding plays in the rural economy.

2 In additionto technical analyses of Angora goat PRODUCTION , some outstanding traits of Angora goats were determined. Therewere no significant differences among the Polatli, Nallihan, Ayas and Gudul provinces, except for the Beypazariprovince in terms of goat population (P < ).Over the last twenty years, the number of angora goats has decreased by almost 89%. Total mohair, milk andmeat PRODUCTION has slumped because of the decrease in goat numbers. The main income of these farms isobtained from mohair, meat and the sale of live animals. Most of the milk produced from the goats is consumedby the families of the farmers. Concentrated feed is used by the majority of farms when the goats are housed inpens, especially in wintertime. Among farmers, 91% declared the use of concentrated feed throughout the entireyear, whereas 9% of them use it only in words: Angora goat , farms, PRODUCTION , Turkey, marketing*Corresponding author: E-mail: et al.

3 (2008) reported that, domestic ani-mal diversity is the result of communities of livestock-keepers managing their animal genetic resources(AnGRs) according to their own preferences andneeds over thousands of years of domestication(Anderson, 2003). Local farmers have developedover time in traditional societies without the use offormal herd books and highly technical represent an important genetic resource particu-larly in terms of adaptive traits ( , disease resis-tance, drought tolerance, ability to survive on poordiets, ability to walk long distances). A loss of suchanimal genetic diversity may weaken the chances offuture generations to respond adequately to increas-ing food demand, potential environmental changes (in-cluding climate change), disease and other challenges512and catastrophes we cannot foresee (Koehler-Rollefson, 2002). Angora goats are one of the nativebreed that of raised particularly for mohair produc-tion which is a raw material for textile industry.

4 Notonly provide an important source of cash income tofarmers through sales of their mohair and their meat,or of the animals themselves, but they are also an im-portant resource for meat and milk, which are high-quality protein supplements, for rural people (Hunter,1987). The name Angora from which the breed comes(breed comes) originated from ancient name of An-kara, which is located in Central Anatolia and has beenthe capital of Turkey since 1930 (Yalcin, 1986). An-gora goat farms are located mainly in the lowland ar-eas of Central Anatolia. They can also be found insmall numbers in some southeastern provinces of thecountry. Turkey, the USA, and the Republic of SouthAfrica are among the leading countries of the world inAngora goat breeding (Gunes et al., 2002; Van derWesthuysen, 2005).Angora goat farms have been relatively insensitiveto external factors, such as the globalization of stateeconomics and regional marketing situations.

5 Com-paring Turkish Angora goats with North American andSouth African goat is important in order to improvetheir productivity in terms of mohair (Morand Fehrand Boyazoglu, 1999). Data from TURKSTAT(2007) indicates that over the last twenty years thenumber of Angora goats in Turkey has decreased byalmost 89% (Figure 1). This decrease is principallyrelated to socio-economic and political factors, suchas migration from rural areas, reduced income frommohair PRODUCTION compared to milk and meat pro-duction, insufficient support for Angora goat breed-ers and restrictions on goat rearing close to wood-land paper summarizes the Turkish Angora goatand its associated PRODUCTION systems in terms of cur-rent technical, economic and social and MethodsStudy siteThe Angora goat is perfectly adapted to CentralAnatolia because of its steppe conditions (Orkiz,1980).

6 For this reason, this STUDY was conducted inthe Central Anatolian district of Turkey s capital city,Ankara. This site is located between 32:52 E,39:56 N at an intersection point of highways connect-ing east to west and north to south through city is like a pot between four mountains in theAnatolia Plateau, with an altitude of 850-1000 steppe climate is dominant in Ankara provinceand, therefore, the summers are warm and dry andthe winters are cold and snowy. For this STUDY weadministered a public survey that was applied to fivedistricts (Polatli, Gudul, Ayas, Beypazari, and Nallihan)of Ankara province (Figure 2).Sampling procedures, data collectionand analysis methodsProduction systems, herd structures, number ofanimals and membership in the Turkish Mohair Asso-ciation were used as the main criteria for defining thevillages and districts of this STUDY .

7 Accordingly, fivedistricts were selected to consider the number of An-gora goat farms. Each district has an animal popula-tion of cows, sheep, poultry, and bees, but most farmsare dominated by Angora goats. A list of householdowners in each district was obtained from the localadministrative office of the Agriculture Branch of An-kara. Twenty Angora goat farms per district (a totalof 100 from all districts) were randomly selected us-ing the Intentional Illustration survey was conducted in the selected farms 3732327141279211105001000150020002500198 51990199520002005 YearsNumber of Angora goat (Heads)Fig. 1. Angora goat population in Turkey overthe past 20 years (TURKSTAT, 2007)513A Case STUDY for PRODUCTION SYSTEM Analysis of Turkish Angora goat Farmsfrom May to August 2006. Primary data were col-lected by interviewing key informants, using structuredquestionnaires and formal discussions.

8 Collection ofdata then focused on the STUDY sites, in cooperationwith the Turkish Directorate of Extension from theMinistry of Agriculture and the Turkish Mohair Asso-ciation through participatory workshops involvingfarmers, interviews and participatory data were stored and analyzed using SPSS(Statistical Program for Social Sci.) software ( version, 2002). This research was planned witha completely randomized design to determine differ-ences for composition of herds. A Chi-square test anddescriptive and inferential statistics were used to de-termine the surveyed data. A one-way analysis of vari-ance (ANOVA) was performed using MINITAB, anddata in each species were separately evaluated. Themeans were compared by Duncan s Multiple RangeTest (P d ), using the MSTATC program (Wineret al., 1991).Results and DiscussionCharacteristics of households and farmsThe average age of farmers ranged from 47 to 57years old, and 34% of the farmers live with their chil-dren even if they are married.

9 The educational level ofAngora goat farmers was higher than that of Hair goatfarmers (Darcan et al., 2005). We observed that 84%,11% and 5% of goat farmers had graduated from pri-mary school, secondary school, and college, respec-tively. Most of the goat farmers had social assurance( ).The land area of the Angora goat farms variedbetween and da. in each of the fivedistricts, with an average of 129. The Polatli, Nallihanand Ayas districts utilize irrigated farming more thanthe other areas districts. Growing grain is served foranimals, but sugar beets, sunflowers and watermel-ons sell at the domestic market. Farmers generallywere working their own land, joining plant and animalproduction systems together (Table 1). Research re-sults indicate that of the goat farmers also dealwith crop PRODUCTION , with of them workingtheir own land. The major crops are wheat, sunflowerand sugar beet.

10 A small number of farmers dealt withhorticulture ( ) as well. It was found that the av-erage number of cattle ranges from three to seven perfarm (TURKSTAT 2007). This value changes accord-ing to the geographic situation (Table 1).Labor division and decision makingWe observed that a large number of farms weremanaged by all family members, who all contribute todifferent chores, as indicated by Wurzinger et al.(2008). Similar to the findings of Darcan et al. (2006),we found that the entire family took part in goatproduction; women and daughters were particularlyresponsible for the flock. Male and female teenagersalso helped their mothers during milking time. Fewmales ( ) took part in goat PRODUCTION as a sec-ond job. Girls and boys herded the goats. Decisionmaking structures were examined in the interviews. Itwas found that women, for the most part, decidedmanagement procedures such as weaning time, feed-ing time and milking time.