The role of land consolidation in the development of rural areas in irrigation areas

The sustainable development of rural areas is dependent on structural change. Multifaceted planning and projects must be prepared and implemented for structural change to occur. In developed countries, other rural development-oriented services are reinforced by land consolidation. Land consolidation work strives to expand agricultural enterprises and renew villages, and as the situations and problems have become multifaceted, the principle of not regarding this space as merely agricultural has arisen. From this point of view, the purpose of land consolidation became multifaceted, and the concept was changed to mean the arrangement of a rural area, as it involves irrigation, agriculture, environment, settlement and choice related to economic policies. Thus, the tasks of land consolidation have constantly expanded and now include increasing production efficiency, improving and conserving rural structure, eliminating the problem of scattered parcels and improving production and working conditions. In Turkey, this work is carried out in irrigation areas and with certain content. The most important of the agricultural infrastructure problems is that the lands are in the form of small parcels, are dispersed, and are irregularly shaped in a clear majority of agricultural enterprises. Furthermore, proprietorship of land is unclear, as ownership is not passed to heirs. As a result, farmers are producing in gradually smaller and more scattered lands and cannot use the land properly; thus, agricultural development is insufficient. The solution for enterprises with fragmented and scattered land is land consolidation. This study presents a geographic information system (GIS)-aided analysis of the structural changes that took place in rural areas as a result of carrying out land consolidation in irrigation project areas. Two irrigation project areas were chosen for the study. The first is the Bursa Mustafakemalpasa Plain irrigation project area, which received only irrigation service. The second is the Bursa Karacabey Plain irrigation project area, where irrigation and land consolidation were carried out at the same time. The data obtained in this study were analyzed with the aid of GIS while comparing with and without land consolidation, thus revealing the potential effect of land consolidation on project areas.