This dense agricultural population of Turkey is also directly reflected in the number of agricultural enterprises. Here, I would like to draw your attention to a point, although there have been studies on land consolidation in the last 10 years, unfortunately the picture is in a worse situation than it looks. In short, the breadth of agricultural holdings has decreased even more. While the number of agricultural holdings has been decreased over time in the member states of the European Union, the breadth of agricultural holdings has been increased, the opposite has been the case in Turkey.
| Country | Usable Agricultural Land (Ha) | Number of Businesses | Average Business Size (ha) | Agricultural Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 1.365.000 | 48,000 | 28.6 | 81,000 |
| Bulgaria | 5.030.000 | 493,000 | 6.2 | 515,000 |
| Czech Republic | 3,546.000 | 39,000 | 89.3 | 135,000 |
| Denmark | 2,639,000 | 45,000 | 59.7 | 73,000 |
| Germany | 16,890,000 | 371,000 | 45.7 | 730,000 |
| Estonia | 932,000 | 23,000 | 38.9 | 19,000 |
| Greece | 3,819,000 | 860,000 | 4.7 | 429,000 |
| Britain | 17,709,000 | 300,000 | 53.8 | 593,000 |
| Poland | 15,625,000 | 2,391,000 | 6.5 | 1,604,000 |
| Hungary | 5,783,000 | 626,000 | 6.8 | 220,000 |
| South Cyprus | 121,000 | 40,000 | 3.6 | 15,000 |
| Portugal | 3,686,000 | 275,000 | 12.6 | 434,000 |
| Slovakia | 1.930.000 | 69,000 | 28.1 | 45,000 |
| Italy | 13,338,000 | 1,679,000 | 7.6 | 838,000 |
| Spain | 22,798,000 | 1,044,000 | 23.8 | 712,000 |
| TURKEY** | 18,432,000 | 3,022,000 | 6.1 | 8,089,000 |
The low average size of agricultural enterprises seems to be a structural problem for the Turkish agricultural sector. The size of agricultural enterprises is closely related to inputs such as modernization, fertilizer and irrigation in agriculture, as well as production capacity. As a result of the shrinkage of agricultural enterprises, significant economies of scale problems arise and production tends towards decreasing yields.
If we look at the types of agricultural enterprises in Turkey, first of all, we can say that animal husbandry in Turkey is an activity that is mostly done together with plant production and complements plant production. In this integrity, animal husbandry is a side activity for agricultural enterprises, a way of creating additional income. While plant and animal production activities produce inputs for each other, they provide external economies and field economies. Executing different activities within the same business allows for the spread of risk, providing cash flow, stability in income and reduction of fixed costs per unit . According to TUIK data, 65% of agricultural enterprises are engaged in both plant production and animal husbandry. 34% are engaged in plant production and 1% in animal husbandry.
Although, in the 6th article of the Land Consolidation Implementation Regulation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, “In order to establish viable businesses in the agricultural sector and to ensure the rational use of agricultural lands, the parcel sizes should be formed in optimum dimensions , the current parcel pattern should be according to the requirements of transportation between the parcels, modern irrigation and agricultural mechanization techniques. for reorganization and, if necessary, in-field development services; The project area is determined by the decision of the Council of Ministers to make land consolidation optionally upon the consent of those who own more than half of the land and make up more than half of the owners in number, and upon the request of the Ministry or the boards, and not optionally, considering the public interest. Although it has been expressed, the concept of optimum measure cannot be formed for many reasons. These are;
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- The majority of agricultural enterprises in Turkey are not of sufficient size, and the agricultural lands have become very fragmented and cannot be cultivated efficiently. Disorders in the agricultural structure due to fragmentation and disorganization not only have a negative effect on yield, but also make it difficult to take efficiency-enhancing measures and cause higher costs.
- Some of the agricultural enterprises, which have capital or labor shortages, cannot cultivate all of the lands, and some of them work through tenancy and/or sharecropping. This situation causes the lands to be fragmented in terms of use. In addition, those who live in the cities and give some or all of the land in the village to the tenant and/or sharecropper are also influential in the fragmentation. In addition, "splitting by inheritance and transfer" and "splitting through shares and divisional sales " constitute. Apart from these, albeit less effective; " Disintegration due to geographical and topographical location ", " fragmentation through expropriations for various purposes " are also encountered.
- Insufficient land size of the enterprises increases the transportation and transportation losses in the enterprises and thus the cost. As a result, farmers cannot give due importance to their lands, cannot find an environment to apply modern inputs and cannot create capital accumulation. Infrastructure services such as roads, water, drainage and leveling for the pieces of land in these enterprises within the determined structure become difficult and their cost is high.
As such, preventing the fragmentation of agricultural lands will be achieved not only by legislation, but also by organizing training programs on this subject by agricultural extension personnel and raising awareness of agricultural enterprises on this issue. When the farmer training programs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry are examined , there is no training program on this subject. Only the training programs are provided in the villages where consolidation is done on a limited basis by the Regional Directorates of Agricultural Reform. Training programs should be planned to cover all producers.
One of the biggest reasons for the fragmentation is the inheritance system that foresees equal sharing of the Civil Code, but in order to ensure the applicability of the parts of this system related to agricultural enterprises, a short-term training program should be given to the judges regarding the relevant articles in the agricultural enterprises section of the Civil Code by expert agricultural engineers or the subject should be higher. The inclusion of the law in the teaching courses will facilitate the implementation of the law.
The gap in share sales, which has been going on for years in Turkey, has not been fully settled, although a new regulation has been introduced in recent years, and today the confusion of indivisible and divisible parcels must be ended.
In addition, the concept of "planted agricultural land" in the legislation is not fully understood by the relevant parties. The place that was absolute agricultural land yesterday should not be considered as planted agricultural land when new saplings or trees are planted the next day.
Sources
Serkan Sezen.