Contribution of Land Consolidation to Agriculture and Agricultural Mechanization; Çanakkale-Biga-Derekoy Example

In order to meet the food demand of the increasing population, it is necessary to use the soil and water resources more economically and effectively, and to increase the productivity and income obtained from the unit area. Land fragmentation is one of the most important problems that prevent the effective and sustainable use of existing agricultural lands in our country. Land fragmentation creates a negative impact on the country's economy by making the application of modern agricultural techniques difficult. At this point, land consolidation projects have been put into action in order to use the existing agricultural lands more effectively and to benefit from mechanization at a high level. With land consolidation studies, it is aimed to bring small, shapeless, fragmented and scattered parcels into a whole. It is aimed to ensure the integrity and production continuity of the parcels that are fragmented through inheritance. With land consolidation, each parcel brought into rectangular and square shapes, which is more suitable for agricultural mechanization, has a road border, thus saving fuel, labour and time, which are the most important inputs that may occur during production activities. In this study, the data of the land consolidation study completed in the Dereköy neighbourhood of the Biga district of Çanakkale province were evaluated and the old and new situations were examined. With the consolidation project completed on an area of 341 ha in Dereköy district, the number of 1088 parcels have been reduced to 507 parcels, and the consolidation rate is 52.40%. While the average parcel area was 3.13 decares in the old situation, it increased to 6.58 decares with the completion of the consolidation project, resulting in an 82% increase in parcel size. With the decrease in the number of parcels and the increase in the parcel size, there has been a great decrease in agricultural mechanization and production inputs. In the study, a randomly selected farmer had 8 parcels in the old situation and made a 25 km road to the village centre from his 34 decares of land. With the completion of the consolidation project, 8 parcels were reduced to 2 parcels and the distance of these two parcels to the village centre decreased to 5.5 km. The path of the farmer was shortened by 78%, and the 78% decrease in the most important input such as diesel made a very important contribution. With the shortening of the road, a high reduction was achieved in all inputs spent by the tractor for production, including depreciation expenses. With the completion of the project, the continuity of production has been ensured as each parcel has a road and a connection to the irrigation canal. It is evaluated that the project, which will relieve the living conditions of the people living in rural areas, contributes to the prevention of the transition from the village to the city.