A new one has been added to the problems we experience in agricultural and animal production. The young population is rapidly moving away from farming.
The remaining population in the village is now the last generation. Ways of returning the young population to agriculture should be sought.
People should be able to eat where they were born. For this, in addition to rural development supports, farmer incomes need to be increased and brought closer to other sector incomes.
ONLY 4.8 PERCENT OF FARMERS IN OUR COUNTRY ARE YOUTH
According to the data of the Union of Chambers of Agriculture of Turkey, the current NUMBER of farmers in Turkey is 5 million 162 thousand.
Of this, 82 percent are men and 18 percent are women.
Male farmers have an average age of 57.7, female farmers 60.1, and registered total farmers have an average age of 58.1.
Şemsi Bayraktar, Chairman of Union of Chambers of Agriculture of Türkiye (TZOB), "26.4 percent of our farmers are between the ages of 33-49, 3.8 percent are between the ages of 25-32 and 1% are between the ages of 18-24. The rate of farmers between the ages of 18-32 in Turkey corresponds to only 4.8 percent of the total farmers," he said.
VILLAGE TO CITY MIGRATION CONTINUES AT FULL SPEED
Bayraktar stated that the average age of workers in the agricultural sector is high throughout the world.
Bayraktar emphasized that when the statistics are examined, Turkey also catches up with the countries with elderly population in agriculture.
“ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN CITIES REFLECT TO THE RURAL TOO LATE”
Bayraktar underlined that the economic and social development experienced in the cities is reflected in the countryside too late. He emphasized that intense waves of migration from villages to cities continue for reasons such as the search for a job, the desire to prepare a better future for children, the expectation to benefit from education and health opportunities, the search for social security, the desire to gain social status, and the desire to benefit from changes and developments in technology.