Socio-economic description
There are 6 villages within the study site. Mountainous villages are less populated (in some cases only several families) while villages on flat landscape comprises higher population.
| Village name | Number of families | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Yukarısöğütönü | 250 | 1000 |
| Keskin | 450 | 1200 |
| Uludere | 150 | 600 |
| Eğriöz | 70 | 200 |
| Karaçobanpınarı | 15 | 40 |
Sex ratio in different settlings is grossly equal while mean age is generally very high due to intense migration of younger population to large cities. It can be said that villages in flat areas with more productive soils have younger population compared to others. Level of education is medium compared to the overall country; 85 percent of the 75 women interviewed graduated from primary school. The percent of illiterate women is 8. The number of women who did not complete primary school but are literate is 2. There are only two women who graduated from secondary school. Moreover, there is only one woman who has a university degree. From the viewpoint of male population 79 % of men graduated from primary school. While 9 percent of men graduated from high school, 12 percent of men graduated from high school. We met rarely some university graduates who come back to their mother home after their retirement. Major income category of the elder village population is wage of retire, a special retirement system based on prepayment irrespective of profession (Bağ-kur). Annual income distribution in the study site is slightly skewed to poorer population around 5000-9000 NTL. Almost 50% of the population gains 5.000-20.000 annual income (Table 3).
The majority (73%) of the families in the study site sustain their livelihood from various combinations of livestock (cows and sheep) and agricultural activities to lower the costs. Cropland are dominantly unirrigated (%85) while the remaining is irrigated by either flowing water or shallow groundwater.
| Ann. income range (NTL)* | 900-999 | 1000-4999 | 5.000-9.999 | 10.000-19.999 | 20.000-28.000 | 30.000-50.000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of population | 17 | 20 | 32 | 21 | 7 | 4 |
* 1NTL (New Turkish Lira)=0.5 Є (May 2008)
Our preliminary investigations showed that although farmers have a clear desertification perception, they do not take into consider the land degradation in their agricultural activities, but only save their today. The very ultimate reflection of this attitude is sometimes to sell their soils as brick raw-material. As a result land degradation processes significantly affect the life of local stakeholders in various ways in combination with the socio and agro-politics. Decreasing quality and surface cover of meadows directly influence the shepherd families. Lower productivities due to less care to soil and particularly water erosion are definitely hidden features. Decreasing biodiversity is a very well defined phenomenon. Tens of plant species seen in the study site's meadows some 30-40 years ago are almost disappeared left behind only several drought resistant types. Number of wild animals follows this trend as well. As a result, 68 % of the farmers interviewed evaluate their lives as worst than past. 20% of the farmers consider their living conditions better than past while 12% of the farmers distinguish no change in their life conditions. Future expectations of the farmers are generally pessimistic. Of the 78 households in the study site, most of the farmers (% 60) think that their living conditions will be worse than now. The 20 % the farmers preserve their hopes of better future living conditions while a minority (10%) does not anticipate any coming change.
The on-going land degradation processes are fed by many drivers in varying intensities. Support from governmental organizations has always been very low and was weakly welcomed by farmers if at all. Farmers are always complaining about fragmented fields that make the agricultural practices difficult and lower the income.
