Rural development supports programs: Effects of the IPARD supports on the animal husbandary industry in Elazig

In 2006, after Turkey has been recognized as candidate state for the European Union (EU), Turkey was included into the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) program. In 2008, IPA's rural development component (IPARD) has been accepted by Turkey and it has been launched in 2011. IPARD encompasses 42 provinces in Turkey and Elazig is one of the second phase provinces that received support between 2013-2016. The first part of these study comprises a literature review of the similar studies. In the second part, the concept of rural development and Turkey's efforts on rural development in recent years are explained. The third part explains the bases of IPARD, which are EU's Common Agricultural Policy and IPA, together with the terms and procedures associated with IPARD program and its implementing partner agency in Turkey, TKDK. In the last part, basic information about the province of interest Elazig has been introduced and the developments in the livestock industry in Elazig during the corresponding IPARD term is explained. As a result of the analysis, in the studied province, a positive acceleration in livestock industry has been observed, where the most notable change occurred in poultry. During the IPARD support phase, the capacity of poultry increased by %105 in the province. In the light of these findings, it has been concluded that the entrepreneurs in the province are more attracted by investment tools whose supply and market guaranteed by an authority.