PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, cilt.57, sa.1, ss.315-323, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
Buffalo breeding is a prominent economic activity in many districts of Tukey. It is important to note that buffalo breeding requires specific treatment and knowledge when compared with other animal breeding activities. Departing form this point of view, it was intended to measure factors affecting buffalo breeders' motivation and willingness and their attitudes in Afyonkarahisar, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Istanbul, Mus, Tokat and Samsun provinces of Turkey. Effective factors considered were socio-demographic characteristics of buffalo breeder and breeder's family, characteristics of the breeding enterprises, needs of breeders and supports provided to buffalo breeding. The main motivation was to seek the decision process where development of buffalo breeding is accepted and approved. Accordingly, data retrieved from 462 buffalo breeders via face to face survey was analysed with Analytical Hierarchy Process. Factors affecting the motivation of breeders towards buffalo breeding had appeared as breeding experience (35%), education (30%), technical knowledge (25%) and age (10%). In addition, the use of family labour (75%) and foreign labour (25%) had appeared as criteria leading the startup or capacity enlargement decisions. The consistency ratio for AHP analysis was Consistency Ratio (CR)<0.10 and this figure confirmed consistency of producer decisions. Main income resources for the enterprises surveyed were animal breeding, other agricultural income, and non-agricultural income.