Despite the potential for agricultural production, 9,38 regions on a total area of 440 million hectares, where land degradation has accelerated, are treated as "large plains protection areas".
The Law on Soil Conservation and Land Use entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated 19 July 2005.
With the law, misuse of agricultural lands became subject to permission and these areas were disciplined more.
Before the law, there was a regulation requiring permission for the misuse of agricultural lands. On the other hand, there was no criminal liability in case of misuse of the land without permission. With the publication of the law, administrative and judicial sanctions were brought for unauthorized use.
The law in question enabled plains with high agricultural production potential, where soil loss and land degradation develop rapidly due to various reasons such as erosion, pollution, misuse or misuse, to be designated as a "great plain protection area" by taking the opinion of the board or committees. The law also paved the way for the preparation of agricultural infrastructure projects and land use plans for protection and development in the great plains.
Thanks to the publication of the law, a 1/25000 scale Land Use Planning Project was prepared for the protection of agricultural lands as well as for planned production, and presented to the use of 81 provincial directorates affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. In addition, as of 2022, detailed soil surveys were started in 941 thousand hectares of land in Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ and Yalova. Following the completion of the surveys, 1/5000 scale (plot-based) soil maps will be created. Agricultural land use and production planning will be made with these maps. The project will start this year and will be carried out to cover 2028 provinces until 77.
THE NUMBER OF BIG PLAIN IS EXPECTED TO REACH 500 THIS YEAR
From January 2017 to December 31, 2022, 72 regions in 440 provinces have been declared “great plains protected areas”. The decision on 11 of them was made last year. The total size of the great lowland protected areas reached 9,38 million hectares.
In terms of area, Konya ranks first with more than 1 million 677 thousand hectares, Şanlıurfa second with 937 thousand 573 hectares and Adana third with 445 thousand 189 hectares.
In terms of the number of plains, Malatya is in the first place with 21 plains, Balıkesir is in the second place with 17 plains and Çanakkale is in the third place with 15 plains.
In line with the development goals of the country, efforts are underway to increase the number of large plains protected areas in order to protect the land, ensure the balance of land use and protection. The number of large plains is expected to reach 500 this year.
TWICE PENALTY FOR IMPROPER USE IN GREAT PLAINS
Despite the high agricultural potential defined by the law throughout the country, studies have been initiated to protect the areas that are exposed or likely to be exposed to erosion and pollution, misuse pressures, and the micro-regions where special crops are grown.
With the amendment made in the law in 2020, the governorship stops the work completely if the land use is started without permission or if these areas are not used in accordance with the permission obtained. If the work has been completed, its use is not allowed. An administrative fine of 1000 liras is imposed for each square meter of the used or damaged area, not less than 33,6 liras, to the owner of the land or to the person who destroys the land. In large plains protected areas, this penalty is doubled.
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