Rural area potential of Muş province and its impact on development

This study focused on the rural area potential of Muş province and the effects of this potential on the rural development of the province. The study area in "Level II Region in the Statistical Region Unit Classification" is located in the Upper Murat-Van Section of the Eastern Anatolia Region. Having Malazgirt, Bulanik, Varto, Hasköy and Korkut districts, the area of Muş province is 8,650 km2. Ağrı is located in the east of Muş, Bingöl in the west, Erzurum in the north, Diyarbakır and Batman in the southwest and Bitlis in the south. The main goal was to examine the rural area potential (such as agriculture, animal husbandry and tourism) of Muş province, to reveal the reasons for the limited effects of this potential on rural development and to provide solutions. Mus is among the major cities of Turkey in terms of agricultural production. Murat River and Karasu are important river resources. Muş province has an area of 866,833 hectares. The largest share in the provincial land is agricultural land with 357,342 hectares (41.2%). Mus Plain, including Malazgirt, Fuzzy and Liz plains, are among the major agricultural areas in Turkey. If irrigated agriculture is widespread in these areas, the importance of the province in agricultural production in the country will increase. This situation will accelerate rural development. The plateaus and pastures of the province provide an important advantage for animal husbandry activities. As a matter of fact, pasture areas with 336,062 hectares (38.8%) take the second place among the provincial lands, after agricultural lands, and the third place is meadow areas with 72,099 hectares (8.3%). In 2019, small cattle took the first place in terms of livestock in the province with 1,084,591 (56.54%), while bovines come second with 325,067 (16.94%). Muş province's incentives for the development of rural resources should be more selective. However, it should be followed more closely whether the incentives provided are used in place and on time. Thus, the development activities in the rural areas of the province will increase even more. Muş province also has important resources in terms of rural tourism. In recent years, it is known that with the increase of urban population, interest in rural tourism resources has increased. Among the important tourism resources of rural areas in the province are caves, mosques, churches, castles, highlands, dams, lakes and agro tourism (agricultural tourism) resources. If these resources are developed within the framework of ecotourism, they have the potential to contribute significantly to rural development. In order to use the resources of the province such as agriculture, animal husbandry and tourism more efficiently, it is important to encourage farmer organization, to strengthen cooperatives and specialization, to produce branded products, to provide strong market support, to provide interest-free credit support by reducing input costs, and to establish a strong market base at national and international level. By providing these measures, the working area will grow much faster in sustainable rural development. This will contribute to the economy of the province of Muş in particular and to the country's economy in general. Therefore, migration in rural areas will be prevented. At the same time, reverse migration to rural settlements will be paved. Keywords: Rural development, rural area, Muş, agriculture, animal husbandry