Evaluation of the Gains Obtained Through the Olive Project (Women Farmers Meet Agricultural Innovations-2022) Survey Study and Data Analysis

Abstract

Olive growing is done in all regions of Turkey except Eastern Anatolia and Central Anatolia Regions. Even if not everyone in the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean regions, which are located in the temperate climate zone, has an olive garden, there is definitely one olive tree in the houses that have a garden. Olive oil is also an indispensable element of Turkish cuisine. Çanakkale province stands out in terms of agriculture, as well as its historical and cultural values, ecological factors, education, culture and tourism features. Çanakkale region is also important due to its production share in Turkey's olive cultivation, newly established olive gardens, high productivity and the quality of the local olive oils. For all these reasons, there is a need to reconsider the cultivation of olives in the region, in order to obtain higher and higher quality products from olive cultivation in Çanakkale province and to include farmer women in the process. Within the scope of the 2022 Women Farmers Meet with Agricultural Innovations Projects of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - Education and Publication Department, the " Dissemination of Modern Olive Cultivation Techniques in Women Farmers" project, carried out jointly with Çanakkale Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry and İzmir Bornova Olive Research Institute, was carried out in 2 stages. . The project was carried out during 2021 and 2022. Institute experts provided training to women farmers in order to announce new techniques in olive cultivation, ensure the use of these techniques and improve product quality, and had them perform applications (demonstrations) in field conditions. In the meeting organized by both organizations in September, when the project started, a farmer meeting was held with female olive producers in the region about modern cultivation practices, and "preliminary survey" study was conducted before the trainings. With this project, it was aimed to increase the awareness of women farmers and to ensure that they use modern production techniques with an innovative approach instead of traditional methods, and trainings were organized on this subject. After the trainings, the effectiveness of the training was evaluated with the "final survey" through surveys conducted with the producers in May. As a result, it is planned to encourage more profitable olive cultivation by evaluating the adoption of modern innovative techniques at the producer level, quality production, increasing efficiency, reducing production costs, increase in income levels, and their effects on the social structure. In this article, these survey studies and the gains they brought will be examined in detail.