The effect of bovine livestock incentive and support policies implemented in Turkey on local development: A research on Ardahan province

After Ardahan became a province in 1923, it was made a district of Kars in 1926. Although Ardahan was re-promoted to a province in 1992, it remained one of the least socio-economically developed provinces in Turkey. In addition, the province is among the provinces that benefit the least from support policies in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry. Some of the most important problems of the province are immigration, low share of GNP and undeveloped industry / manufacturing sector. In addition, the inability to modernize agriculture and animal husbandry poses an important problem. In this framework, the development and modernization of animal husbandry has an important role in ensuring sustainable development in Ardahan, which has a high rural population. Ardahan, where bovine livestock is particularly common, does not have enough opportunities in terms of modernization of animal husbandry, although it has a high potential. Turkey, which is in the process of harmonization with the European Union, has implemented rural development programs such as IPARD (Pre-Accession Aid Rural Development), which aims to improve agriculture and animal husbandry with modern and organic methods. In this context, especially in Ardahan, TKDK, Ardahan Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, Ardahan Bovine Livestock Association, SERKA, Ardahan Depatment of Ziraat Bank, Ardahan Agricultural Credit Cooperative, Ardahan İŞKUR Directorate and other public institutions and organizations provide grants, incentives, funds and support to farmers. In this study, the opinions of the farmers about the grants, incentives, funds and supports provided by the state in the province of Ardahan were evaluated using the quantitative research method. Findings from the study showed that the farmers were highly satisfied with the grants, incentives, funds and supports provided. Despite this, the most important problems regarding grants, incentives and supports for animal livestock in Ardahan province are high feed prices and no meat integrated facility. Keywords: Rural Development, Bovine Livestock, Livestock Incentives and Grants, Ardahan