The contribution of pinus pinea forests to village legal entities and local economy: The case of Gediz basin

This study, was concucted in villages with state-owned pinus pinea forests in the vicinity in the provinces of Izmir and Manisa located in Gediz Basin. In this study, efforts were made to determine quantity and nature of contribution of state-owned pinus pinea forests, which are managed by Directorate General of Forestry (OGM) and located in Gediz Basin, to village legal entities and local economy. Targets were pinus pinea forests established by state reforestation projects made in Gediz Basin in the past and villages in the vicinity of forests, in which pinus pinea shows a natural distribution. While selecting these areas, instead of pinus pinea forests established recently, pinus pinea forests which passed to pine cone yield, in other words, which provide income for local people by being collected by village legal entities/villagers or others contracted to do of pinus pinea ( Pinus pinea L.) which shows a wide distribution in Gediz Basin, and the contribution to local economy of forest villagers, who earn income by collecting this product in cone form, and of people and companies who trade and process this product in their facilities are adressed.The results of a survey study conducted with village headmen/villagers are given here. Mean age of the group who are engaged in the production of pine nuts in general was found to be 48 and above, and it was determined that young people are not interested in this job. They stated that they are also engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry because they sell their products to agents/traders and their income from pine nut is low. It was seen that unlike other villagers, village headmen market their products while they are on trees in the forest, and are even unaware of the quantity of product collected in most cases. The quantity of pine nut cones paid to forest administration as the tarif cost and recorded is estimated to be around %20 of the actual amount of cone production.