Erzurum Rural Development Project

Erzurum Rural Development Project

This operation was the first IFAD-funded project in Turkey. It was located in a poor and isolated mountainous province in eastern Anatolia, where severe weather conditions made agriculture difficult and where there was a high incidence of disease, malnutrition and migration.

The objective was to improve the productive capacity and living conditions of the area’s poorest people, mainly small-scale, mixed-crop and livestock farmers and their families. The project implemented an intensive programme of agricultural extension and field demonstrations for farmers to introduce improved rural technology. It supported the creation of a multi-disciplinary service, effectively decentralizing the provincial extension service, and the posting of village extension agents in each cluster of villages.

Project activities included plant protection, veterinary and irrigation services, a pilot high-altitude pasture demonstration, field tests and crop adaptation trials. The project reinforced the capacity of the provincial agency for plant disease control, and it equipped the regional agricultural research institute for production of original seed.

Activities promoted a shift in the strategy of animal health and breeding services from control to prevention of disease. The project supported credit for small-scale farmers to enable them to utilize new technical packages and initiate activities such as bee-keeping and milk collecting. It supported improvements in irrigation schemes, roads and water supply systems, and it included support for improved training.

Source: IFAD