An Analysis on Determinants of Farmers’ Tractor Purchasing Behavior in Erzurum Province

At present, arable agricultural areas especially in the developed countries have reached to their last limit. this necessitates intensive farming, which requires the use of intense input to meet the growing demand. the most important components of intensive farming in agricultural production are chemical input, qualified work force, high capacity production material and mechanization. in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the level of mechanization in developing countries such as turkey. this study is carried out to determine the factors affecting tractor brand preference and purchase behavior of farmers in erzurum province. material of this study is obtained from the questionnaires conducted in face to face interviews with 185 farmers who are randomly selected from yakutiye, aziziye, palandöken, hasankale, aşkale and ispir districts in erzurum province. according to the results of the study, the average land size of farms is 175 decares, while only 57 % of this lands are irrigated. the average parcel number of the enterprises is 8, while the distance of these parcels to the enterprises is determined to be 3.2 km. 55.1 % of the farmers have purchased brand new tractors. the most important factors that affect farmers' brand selection are fuel consumption, price, spare parts and service network respectively. the least effective factors in brand selection are promotional and advertising activities and after-sales customer visits. according to the results of logit regression analysis, the education level of the farmers and the annual maintenance expenses of the tractor were found to be statistically significant when they preferred any brand.