The effects of livestock supports and external input use on profitability of beef cattle farming: the case of Samsun Province, Turkey

Abstract

Though beef cattle breeding sector has been substantially supported in Turkey, domestic demand could not been sufficiently met and price of beef meat has been steadily increased. By the way, the cost of production has considerably been raised. The objective of this study is to examine the profitability of beef meat. The sample of the study was determined by stratified sampling method from the members of Red Meat Producers Association and the cross sectional data was collected from 171 beef cattle farms via farm surveys. The results of the study indicated that the production of average beef meat was 19067 kg, whereas gross profit and relative profit were USD 60435.24 and 1.34, respectively. The breeding material (40.79%), concentrate feed (34.46%) and roughage (6.49%) had the highest share in the production cost. The cattle breeding supports raised the relative profit to 1.40. The cost of beef meat and gross profit per kilogram was USD 7.42 and USD 3.17, respectively. The external input level of breeding material was 49.15%, whereas it was 40.01% for labor, 38.49% for roughage and 96.59% for concentrate feed. The high level of external input was a drawback for economic sustainability of the cattle farms. Therefore, the livestock supports should be revised in such a way that encourages mixed production (dairy and beef) and financial supports should be improved to access economies of scale.