Aging population and agricultural sustainability issues: case of turkey

Abstract

Agriculture is a sector that is widely known to be impacted not only by the natural conditions of a country but also by other economic and political sectors. Turkish agriculture, in a context marked in recent years by a rural exodus of young people, marks the vagueness of the current state of the agricultural sector and its future. It is with this in mind that this research was carried out, based on a questionnaire survey of 312 producers in 5 provinces of Turkey, to assess the impact of the ageing of the rural population on the agricultural sector. The results of this study show that with age, producers invest less in agricultural activity, altogether abandoning productions requiring more labour. The possibility of taking over the family farm by descendants plays an important role in the degree of involvement of producers. Through these findings, this study makes it possible to address targeted agricultural policies according to age stages.