Yozgat Rural Development Project

Yozgat Rural Development Project

The project area was part of the central Anatolian Plain, about 200 km east of Ankara. The area is mainly agricultural and is vulnerable to drought. At the time of the project, less than 10 per cent of the land was irrigated. About 30 per cent of the population was landless. Because of unemployment and a surplus of labour within the villages, almost half of the families have at least one member working away from home.

In many resource-poor villages, there is not enough feed to allow livestock to produce to their full potential. In general the domestic water supply is inadequate, and in the more remote mountainous areas roads are poor.

The project targeted the poorest rural people in the area. Its objective was to enable them to use available natural resources to produce sustainable improvements in their living conditions. The project installed or upgraded rural water supplies, improved roads, developed irrigation and supported the creation of water users’ groups. To increase production of rainfed crops it provided support for applied research, extension and technical assistance. It also supported improvements in the livestock and forestry sectors.

Women were the focus of support for initiatives to develop income-generating activities such as bee-keeping, sericulture and weaving.

Source: IFAD