Eastern Anatolia Watershed Rehabilitation Project

"Now when I hear the raindrops I lean back and smile, knowing that they bring prosperity to my farm," Ibrahim Ozturk, Farmer

Farmers get respite at last from destructive floods

As far back as he can remember, Ibrahim Ozturk knew that when rain clouds gathered around the summit of Mastar Mountain, tense, sleepless nights lay ahead.

The 64-year-old from Sahsuvar village in Elazig, eastern Turkey, says, “I had to be ready for the flood that would start wildly from the naked hills. Once again I would have to find a way to protect my family, my house, my livestock, and my land."

But times have changed. "Now when I hear the first raindrops, I lean back and smile, knowing that they bring prosperity to my farm, not sorrow.”

Ibrahim’s village benefited from the World Bank'sEastern Anatolia Watershed Rehabilitation Project and the erosion control measures taken by Turkey's Ministry of Forestry. Now his farm earns him more money producing fruits and vegetables thanks to these measures.

Overgrazing and deforestation degraded the soil causing floods and landslides

Turkey’s east is characterized by steep mountains and a harsh climate. Settlements are scattered in these precariously resource-poor upper watersheds.

Rural families with strong cultural attachment to the land are engaged in small-scale crop and livestock production. Poverty is more widespread compared with the lowlands.

Increasing timber, fuel, and fodder demands have led to deforestation. This, together with the overgrazing of rangeland and the lack of effective soil conservation has resulted in widespread degradation of the soil. As a result, rains lead to increasingly torrential river flows, which cause floods and landslides with frequent loss of life and property.

World Bank project encourages sustainable farming practices

In 1990 the Turkish government requested World Bank assistance in managing natural resources in eastern and southeastern Anatolia, and to improve the income of rural people.

The project began in three provinces in the Euphrates watershed, to be eventuallly extended to eleven. It worked to to reduce soil degradation, erosion, and sedimentation in reservoirs by restoring sustainable farming and forestry. It encouraged farmers' participation in the community and gave them a voice in decisions affecting them. This also made rural service agencies more responsive to farmers’ needs.

Farmers have reduced their dependence on forests and rangelands

The US$70 million project gave some 300,000 people in 350 villages the opportunity to shift to other activities to earn a living. Small scale irrigation has helped farmers grow fruits and vegetables to supplement their incomes. This has reduced their dependence on forests and range lands, thereby easing the pressure on these vital natural resources.

Trees have been planted to help control erosion and prevent floods and landslides. The project has also increased the vegetation on rangelands leading to a rise in the availability of forage crops. This has, in turn, led to the feeding of livestock in stalls which has resulted in better methods of livestock production.

As age-old practices change, farmers earn better incomes

Ibrahim's parting words hint at the change spurred in part by the project: “These days I'm busy helping to form a dairy producers’ organization in the village," he says.

And, as a measure of their changed approach to the use of natural resources, he adds, "The younger generation is committed to use our land and forests more efficiently.”