The human and economic geography of Doganyol District (Malatya)

Doganyol District is located in Upper Euphrates Section of Eastern Anatolia Region. There are Sivrice District of Elazıg Province in the north of Doganyol, Çüngüş District of Diyarbakır Province in the east, Pütürge District of Malatya Province in the south and west. Doganyol was founded in the base of an old alluvial fan on the slopes of a rough territory that dominates the region and has high gradient, in the west side of Southeastern Taurus mountain range. While the southern and the eastern sections of the district consist of rough highlands having great elevation and the gradient that has a defected topography, the flat terrains which have agricultural irrigation facilities, as the main cultivated areas of the region, forms the northern and the western sections of the district. The research field presents a peninsula image due to being surrounded by Karakaya dam lake of which three sides are established on Euphrates. The highest geomorphic element of the research field is Ulubaba Mountain with 2397meters height. Generally the continental climate prevails in Doganyol, yet a soft climate caused by the mediterranean – continental climate characteristics is mostly prevalent over the places close to Karakaya dam lake in winters. Furthermore, the winters in upcountry rugged and upland places where heavy snowfalls are often seen pass cold and hard, but summers are hot and dry. The annual average temperature is 15 °C and the annual average precipitation is 518.7 mm. in the research field. Zonal soils classified as climatic soil category are largely located in the area. The district is not rich enough in regard of forests. However, while oak trees are scattered over the rugged and high terrains, poplar trees, willow trees and apricot trees are seen over plains and wetlands. Doganyol that became an official district of Malatya Province in 1990 has 14 villages and 24 arable fields belonging to those villages. According to the census in 2015, the population is 4196 , 1452 people live in the town centre, whereas 2744 of the population live in the villages. In the research field, the population decreases every passing year because of the migration to the Malatya and other cities especially İstanbul due to the financial reasons The district centre economy contains small business, orchard and vineyard agriculture and apricot production. In the countryside, while pomiculture mainly apricot and pomegranate production is common in the flat terrains close to the dam lake, animal husbandry is placed on the top in the terrains where inconvenient topography and climatological conditions have influence on. Furthermore, apiculture ranks as another economic activity which has gained importance recently. In conclusion, Doganyol is in a position to be one of underdeveloped places of the country in terms of socio-economic aspects. Because it has mostly negative environment conditions, its economic activities are limited. As a result of that, the development pace of the district proceeds quite slowly.