A research on the application and sustainability of young farmers project in the Antalya province

The objective of this research is to evaluate the realization potential and sustainability of the targets of Young Farmers Project (YFP) in Antalya such as sustainability, employment of rural population and increasing the income level of young farmers, by means of getting the opinions of beneficiary farmers of the project. The main material of the research consists of the data of the survey, which was carried out with 127 young farmers who benefited from the YFP in 2016 in 10 counties of Antalya. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the application of YFP have been determined with SWOT analysis, based on the data obtained from young farmers within this study. Within the framework of the research, it has been found out that %15 of the young farmers are male and %85 are female, and their average age is 31,2. %79 of the young farmers who are the beneficiaries of YFP engage in animal production and %48 in plant production. %33,9 of beneficiary producers received grant for greenhouse cultivation, %44,1 for bovine breeding and %12,6 for ovine breeding projects. It has been determined that %74,8 of the interviewee farmers applied for YFP in order to increase their income, while %14,2 applied for it because they were unemployed. %18,9 of the farmers found the project useful, %65,4 partially useful, and %15,7 not useful. %14,2 of them expressed that they started production thanks to the grant, and %66,1 expressed that they increased their production thanks to the grant. According to the findings of this research, the YFP is accepted as a useful project by producers. The findings also demonstrate that increasing the grant amount, facilitating the conditions of grant receiving, and paying the grants in due course of time will be able to ensure the YFP attain its objectives and make it sustainable, and also increase its efficiency.