Socio-Economic Characteristics of Farms Producing Tomatoes: the Case of Iğdır Province

The purpose of this study is to determine the demographic characteristics, problems related to tomato production activities and solution suggestions of the farmers producing tomatoes in iğdır province. the data used in the study were obtained from 105 producers determined by the simple random sampling method by the survey method. according to the research, the average age of the producers was 52 and 18 years of tomato production, while average population of the farms in terms of male work unit (mwu) is 4.28. 73.3% of the farmers had education at primary and secondary levels, and they earned income only from agricultural production, and the average land assets were determined as 24.71 decares. the producers produced 33 110 kg of tomatoes in an area of 6.07 da, obtained 5 454 kg of product from the decare and sold 1 kg of tomatoes for $ 0.29. 70% of producers sells their products on the road and in the field. significant problems of the farmers include are the high input prices and the low product prices and sales problems. among the solution proposals are the establishment of multipurpose agricultural cooperatives, the provision of adequate input support, and the training of growing techniques.