The Marketplace: A Place for Small-Scale Producers?

Structural adjustment programs (SAPs) launched since 1980s in Turkey, have focused attention on the promotion of greater reliance on market forces and the elimination of the government subsidies on credits, inputs, and prices. Hence, farmers are engaged in a number of simultaneous exchange relations on different markets, and maintain institutional linkages with several agents. This study provides a detailed analysis of the understanding of markets by the farmers and the significant effects of these different exchange relations on their subsistence. This analysis is based on longitudinal field research as participant observation conducted in the villages of Karacabey, Bursa, in North-western Turkey since December 2009. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through 83 in-depth interviews with farmers, traders, and state officials applying a snowball sampling technique. Findings suggest that small farmers should be incorporated into decision-making processes in order to organize markets in a democratic way and to reconfigure policy-making into more participatory, transparent, and accountable procedures.