The effects of local governments on agricultural development: Case of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality

The transformation that emerged over time in the classical public administration understanding also manifests itself in the coordination and task sharing between the central administration and local administrations. Most of the investments and services, which were previously organized by the central administration, are now performed by the local administrations. Therefore, in today's conditions, municipalities not only perform superstructure, transportation and infrastructure services, but also fulfill important duties in the economic development of the city. In the globalizing world, locally produced products can be sent to different parts of the world besides their own regions. In this context, it is of great importance for the agricultural development that the municipalities work to increase the power and awareness of the region and develop policies. The achievements of the municipalities are only; The amount of asphalt they pour, the length of the road they make, the disposal of garbage, as well as the work they do/will do to cover the rural areas of the city will be measured. Central governments develop and implement programs and policies for the realization of agricultural development. In this study, agricultural development has been discussed in the context of local governments and municipalities. In this context, Ankara, one of the provinces with the largest agricultural areas in Turkey, was chosen. In the study, answers were sought to the questions of what kind of work the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality has done for agricultural production, agricultural policies, which have an important place in the realization of agricultural development, what kind of projects have been or will be made for producers, what investments they are planning. In this context, in this research, the activities of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality regarding agricultural policies in order to ensure the agricultural development of the province were examined and evaluated through its strategic plans, the effects of local governments on agricultural development were examined in the municipality with the information obtained from face-to-face interviews with the authorities, and solution proposals were put forward in terms of the present and future of agricultural policies within the framework of the effect of the province on agricultural development. In addition, the effects of the municipality on agricultural development were evaluated with the SWOT analysis method.