Problems encountered in the land consolidation works performed by GDSHW and suggestions for solutions

Insufficient production of foodstuffs in the face of rapid population growth in Turkey, as in the rest of the world, reveals the necessity of economic development by increasing agricultural activities and production, and the development of irrigation networks. In order to increase agricultural production, it is necessary to implement legal arrangements to prevent fragmentation and deterioration in agricultural lands, to expand agricultural areas economically, to prevent migration from rural areas, and to close the social, cultural and economic gap between rural and urban areas. In this manner, land consolidation studies are of great importance. The land consolidation, which is defined in the Land Consolidation and On-farm Development Services Implementation Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 7 February 2019 and numbered 30679 as "Preventing the degradation and fragmentation of agricultural lands by natural and artificial effects; combining more than one piece of land by considering the natural characteristics, usage integrity and property rights of the fragmented lands; forming new economic, ecological and more functional parcels; determining the usage patterns of these parcels by evaluating the land characteristics and area; and providing land development services", is currently carried out by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (GDSHW). In this study, the process steps of the land consolidation projects carried out by the GDSHW were explained, the problems encountered during the implementation of the projects were examined in terms of technical, administrative and legal aspects (in terms of ownership) and solutions were developed for the identified problems.