Abstract

This study tried to determine the distribution shares of potato production and reasons of change in distribution with respect to NUTS level 1 regions. For this purpose, 43 year data of regional time series covering the years (1963 -1966)-(1980 -1983) and (1980 -1983) - (2002 - 2005) have been used in two periods and econometrically analyzed. The results obtained from the research show that dissimilar regions have relative advantages in potato production and focus is on this production. Particularly, potato production that is subject to market conditions after 1980 could be seen in the regions where production is lucrative and specialization has occurred spontaneously. It is necessary to speed up this process so as to increase the productivity of the agricultural sources. This could only be achieved by comprehensive researches based on the production and effective regional policies.

Key words: Potato production, NUTS level 1 regions, Turkey.