Agricultural Sustainability in Türkiye: Nutrient Use Efficiency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24925/turjaf.v13is3.3753-3768.7988Keywords:
Nutrient use efficiency, Nutrient balance, Agricultural sustainability, Quantitave methods, Rural planningAbstract
Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), phosphorus use efficiency (PUE), and potassium use efficiency (KUE) is vital for sustainable crop production, particularly in semi-arid agricultural systems such as Türkiye’s. This study investigates how climatic, economic, and irrigation-related factors including the National Rain Index (NRI), mean fertilizer prices (MFP), Irrigated Agriculture Water Use Efficiency (IAWUE), and the Irrigation Crop Index (ICI) influence nutrient efficiency between 1994 and 2020. Due to the availability of ICI data only from 2004 onward, separate regression models were estimated for pre- and post-2004 periods. This split not only addresses data limitations but also reflects a hypothesized structural change linked to the expansion of national irrigation infrastructure beginning in 2004, which increased cropping diversity and reduced rainfall dependency. Results indicate that prior to 2004, rainfall variability and fertilizer prices were primary drivers of nutrient efficiency, while in the post-2004 period, irrigation system performance and crop diversification (as measured by ICI) became more influential. These findings suggest that irrigation expansion fundamentally altered the production–environment relationship in Turkish agriculture, with important implications for nutrient management strategies and policy design.
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