MANAGING THE QUALITY CHAIN IN CITRUS FRUIT INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY IN ÇUKUROVA REGION OF TURKEY

Citrus fruits production is one of the most important and valuable horticultural products heavily produced in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Çukurova, which is located along the east of Mediterranean region, has suitable ecological conditions for producing all kinds of citrus fruits.
Besides intensive citrus fruits production, packing-houses with various processing capacities have rapidly developed and have been carrying out their activities mostly for export in the mentioned region.

Although many modern enterprises have been established especially for exporting in recent years, this sector has still a lot of quality problems such as; obtaining adequate quantity and higher standards of raw materials, employing both experienced harvesting and packing workers, good storage conditions and transportation efficiency.

The aim of this research is to find out the effectiveness of managing the quality chain in citrus fruits industry.
It was observed that the firms have heavily been adopted for marketing and extended external market opportunities in general.
On the other hand, the inadequate managing activities in terms of quality and productivity which are especially on harvesting, packing, storage, loading and transportation are noticeable.

XIVth International Symposium on Horticultural Economics

H. Güngör, G. Güngör

Citrus fruits, Packing-house, Quality Management, Turkey

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2000.536.14