A Tendency to Maintain Agriculture of Farmers Benefiting from the Grant Support of a Young Farmer in Gaziantep and Sanliurfa

Abstract

To be about 65% of Turkey's population under 40 years of age requires to increase employment opportunities for young people and them to be sustainable. Young people are moving away from agriculture due to lack of income, life difficulties in the villages and limited social facilities, fragmentation of the lands or too little, and lack of alternative employment opportunities in the countryside. Youths away from agriculture; it causes problems such as aging and decreasing of rural population. For these reasons, it is necessary to determine the tendency of the young people to stay in agriculture, the factors causing them to stay in agriculture or to leave. The aim of this study is to determine the tendency of the young people between the ages of 18-40 who have benefited from the Young Farmer Grant Support in Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa provinces to stay in agriculture and migrate from rural to urban areas. The stratified sampling method was used in the sample selection. In the selected provinces, 72 farmers who benefited from grant support were interviewed and the data were collected through surveys. The data on the socio-demographic characteristics of the enterprises are presented with various descriptive statistics. According to the results of the study, 88.9% of young farmers stated that they would continue agricultural production. 39% of young farmers tend to migrate from rural to urban areas. One of the most important factors in ensuring sustainability in agriculture is the creation of an entrepreneurial young audience. For this reason, policies need to be developed by decision-makers to encourage youth to stay in agriculture.