Examination of Soil Analysis Applications and Soil Analysis Subsidies in terms of Producers in Edirne and Tekirdağ Provinces

The aim of this study was to determine the differences and the importance of the differences in terms of some socio-economic factors and agricultural practices of the producers who had soil analysis in Edirne and Tekirdağ provinces and to evaluate the opinions of the producers about soil analysis and soil analysis subsidies. Three laboratories were selected among the laboratories with the highest number of sample acceptances for soil analysis in the provinces determined in the study. For each province, total of 60 producers who applied to the laboratories in 2015 and who utilized from soil analysis subsidies, and consequently, total of 120 producers were interviewed. The analysis of the differences of the producers who had soil analysis in Edirne and Tekirdağ provinces was determined by the regression tree model (CHAID analysis). According to the CHAID analysis, in which the provinces were taken as the dependent variable, it was seen that the first most distinctive feature was the state-supported agricultural insurance. Of the producers who stated that they did not have agricultural insurance, 31% were located in Edirne and 69% were located in Tekirdağ. It was seen that 56% of the producers in Edirne and 44% of the producers in Tekirdağ had agricultural insurance. The most important feature of the second node was the education level of the producers, the third sub-node decision point was whether the producers had training on fertilization, and the fourth decision point was whether the producers faced risks in agriculture in the last three years. The four most important reasons for the producers to have soil analysis in Edirne province were to increase the product yield, to reduce the cost, to increase product quality and protect the environment, respectively. In the province of Tekirdağ, the criteria of increasing the product yield was on the first rank, increasing the product quality in the second rank, reducing the cost in the third rank and protecting the environment in the fourth rank. It is expected that it will be beneficial to introduce soil analysis conditions to the producers at the stage of purchasing fertilizers, and thus to ensure that the producer purchases fertilizer by determining the type and amount of fertilizer to be disposed of according to the analysis results.