Changes in vegetation and soil properties under semi-nomadic animal raising areas in highlands, rangelands of Turkey

Abstract

Animal raising on rangelands is the main agricultural activity in highlands of Turkey due to short, cool summer and extreme winter conditions which restrict the growth of many crops. In seminomadic animal raising areas, animal owners keep their animals near winter settlements from autumn to following summer and take their animals to uplands for temporary settlement during summer months. The rangelands around permanent settlement areas suffer from early, late season and heavy grazing pressure, whereas, the rangelands around temporary settlements and between them can be excluded from early and late season grazing pressure, because there are no domestic activity in the areas in this period.

Kop ve Palandöken Dağları Meralarının Ekolojik Alan Tanımlama ve Sağlık Sınıflaması

“…Kop dağ silsilesi meraları toprak, topoğrafya ve iklim özellikleri bitki büyümesi ve gelişmesi için Palandöken dağ silsilesi meralarına göre daha zayıf karakterde olması bu hususta etkili olmuştur. Zayıf toprak özelliklerine sahip mera alanında hem bitki gelişmesi daha güç olmakta hem de otlatma ile bitki örtüsü ve toprak özellikleri daha kötü duruma dönüşebilmektedir (Koc et al, 2008). Çünkü meraların bitki besin elementi ve organik madde kaynağının önemli bir bölümü o alanda yetişen bitkilerin ölü dokularından ayrışıp toprağa karışan parçalardır.…”

Livestock Support and Water Depletion in Turkey

“…The comparative advantage of the Turkish agri-food sector lies primarily in food processing and the production of high-value crops such as fruit and vegetables. With relatively limited pasture land and rain-fed areas that would be suitable for the competitive production of roughage, the opportunity cost of supplying Turkey's large and growing population primarily with domestic beef and milk seems to be high (Koc et al, 2012). This opportunity cost is exacerbated by a relatively small-scale livestock sector in Turkey, where the markets for beef and milk face high transaction costs and suffer from technical inefficiencies and low average productivity (Yolcu & Tan, 2008).However, self-sufficiency in agri-food production is a major objective of the Turkish government, hence a range of support is given to livestock and livestock products.…”