An Assessment of Forest Nursery Management by Internal Stakeholders (The Case of the Istanbul and Kırklareli/Lüleburgaz Forest Nurseries)

Forest nurseries in Türkiye have been in operation for approximately 101 years. During this period, scientific studies have been carried out to address the various problems faced by these nurseries. This study was carried out with the aim of evaluating forest nursery management from the perspective of internal stakeholders. The study was conducted at the Bahçeköy, Göktürk, Çobançeşme, Demirköy and Lüleburgaz Nurseries, which are affiliated with the Istanbul and Kırklareli-Lüleburgaz Forest Nursery Directorates – regions of significant importance for Türkiye’s forest nurseries. Fifteen participants took part in the research, including the directors, deputy directors, technical staff at these nurseries, and technical staff who had previously held similar roles at these nurseries (the focus group). This study is unique in two respects amongst the limited number of studies on this subject. Firstly, it involves the resolution of issues relating to nursery management through an RWOT analysis of the criteria associated with the SWOT elements prepared by the focus group. What makes this analysis unique is the application of a dual RWOT analysis, whereby the criteria within the SWOT elements are reduced to a common basis for all management functions. In this way, the SWOT elements are evaluated collectively for each management function (planning, control, coordination, execution, organisation). Through focus group meetings, the stakeholder group established 8–9 criteria for each management function. A total of 32 criteria were developed across the four SWOT element levels for a single management function. A total of 163 criteria were obtained for the five management functions. Through a double SWOT analysis, all criteria were reduced to the same level, enabling the analysis to be carried out. When a priority ranking was carried out for all criteria of the management functions, six groups emerged. The first three groups contained criteria relating to weaknesses and threats. This data indicates that the stakeholder group should prioritise addressing the issues within the criteria concerning weaknesses and threats when managing nurseries. Following the analysis, three criteria were identified in the first group. These comprised two weakness criteria relating to the planning function and one weakness criterion relating to organisation. The criteria in the first group are as follows: “i) Insufficient permanent staff, resulting in a shortage of knowledgeable and experienced personnel (PW2)”, ii) a low number of current workers, low work capacity and low labour productivity (OW2), and iii) an inability to adapt to sudden demands in the planning of seedling production (PW5)”. These three criteria, identified following the importance scoring carried out by the focus group, indicate that nursery management faces significant challenges.