Livestock activities in Van as a means of rural development

From the second half of the nineteenth century onwards, scientific studies on rural areas have increased. Socio-economic situation in rural areas in the world and as well as in Turkey, has led to increase the rural-urban migration. The phenomenon of migration brought urbanization together, however urbanization did not occur at the same rate. This situation led to the relocation of rural problems to the cities along with the structure as a whole which caused the emergence of a phenomenon, so called "Rural Development". The rural development, which aims to increase the economic income and quality of life of the rural population, includes two main elements to its field of activities; agriculture and animal husbandry activities. The main of this research is to discover the impact of livestock activities on rural development in Van which takes the first place in Turkey in terms of small breeding. It is aimed to determine the obstacles in the livestock activities which have a vital importance for the socioeconomic development of the region. The most important requirements of this study are the fact that provincial animal husbandry is based on cultural foundations, as agriculture is limited due to geographical conditions and it only means of livelihood of the majority of rural population. Van ranks second in terms of total number of animals followed Konya, and ranks first in terms of small breeding with 2,7 million animals total in Turkey. In spite of this, sufficient efficiency is not achieved and livestock activities are decreasing. The main reasons for this situation are the highland and pastureland bans which are applied for security reasons in approximately 30% of the total rural area, high feed and hay prices, the division and ownership of highlands and pastures by families and for some years drought. It is concluded that this study should be important in terms of number of animals, inadequate efficiency and possible obstacles. This Study titled in Livestock Activities İn Van as a Means of Rural Development was prepared as a PhD thesis. The study consists of five main parts. The first part of the study includes basic geographical information about the area and method of study. In the second part of the study focused on the basic concepts for rural development cases and the situation about Turkey and the world. In the third part of the study historical development of livestock, spatial distribution and the current situation in the world and in Turkey was assessed. In the fourth chapter, geographic foundations of Van livestock, spatial distribution, livestock activities and species, historical development of livestock of Van, the effects of livestock on provincial economy and production of animal products are discussed. In the last part of the study, which is based on the field research, the findings obtained are emphasized. Within the scope of the field study 225 people were interviewed in 75 villages and data was obtained with mixed method. In the light of the data obtained from the field, the main problems of Van livestock have been identified and their possible solutions have been emphasized. These data were visualized by the spatial description techniques of Geographical Information Systems and the study was enriched. At the same time, data from TURKSTAT and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry were used.