Proceedings: 3rd International Conference on Food and Agricultural Economics: HONEY PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN TOKAT PROVINCE

In recent years, the effects of bee keeping production activity in rural development have been increasing day by day and at the same time it is the locomotive of rural development.The province of Tokat has a favorable position for bee keeping production in terms of both flora and climate. Moreover, bee keeping activity in Tokat is a production activity that brings additional income in rural areas. For this reason, determining the current status and future position of bee keeping production activity is important in terms of directing the policies that will be produced in order to determine and contribute to the local economy.The most important output of bee keeping production activity is honey production. In this context, the population of thestudy consists of producers producing honey in Tokat province. In Tokat province, 497 quarter registered to Tokat Directorate of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry and 959 producers from these quarter were included in the study. The surveys were conducted by face-to-face interviews with a total of 96 producers, with a 95% degree of significance and a 10% margin of error, based on the aggregated single-stage random probability sampling method based on the main population ratios. The surveys consisted of 2017-2018 production period. In this study, the production and marketing status of honey produced in Tokat province is discussed. At the next stage, problems related to the subject and solutions to these problems have been developed. In the light of the findings of this research, measures and strategies to be taken in honey production and marketing in Tokat province, which is on the way to becoming an important honey production center in the future, have been put forward.