Turkish Women in Agriculture

Abstract

I would like to begin by presenting some basic statistics concerning the place of the agricultural sector in the Turkish economy.Turkey had a total population of 66,8 million in mid-2001 (est.) and a population growth rate of 1,51%. It is a young population with 41,5% in the age group 3 - 20. Rural population is 35%, urban population is 65%. An additional population of about 3,5 million lives abroad, of which about 3 million is in the European Union.Per capita income in 2000 was $2,693 [State Planning Organization (SPO) 2002 Program, p. 177]. This figure is corrected for the rise in foreign exchange rates following the economic crises in November 2000 and February 2001, after which the exchange rates were left to float and rose sharply.In the 5 years 1996-2000, the average yearly growth rate of GNP was about 3,9%, that of GDP 4,0%. It was about 3,9% for agriculture, 4% for industry, 4,6% for services.The share of agriculture in GDP in 2000 was 13,5%, of industry 28,3%, services 58,2% (all above figures from SPO, op. cit.).In 1999, crop area sown was 18,448 thousand hectares, crop area fallow 4900. In addition, vegetable gardens were 790, vineyards 530, orchards 1,404; olive groves 600 and forests 20,703 thousand hectares [State Institute of Statistics (SIS), 2000 Annual Statistics-, p. 272].In 2000, total civilian labor force was 22,029 thousand, total civilian employment was 20,578 thousand with 7,187 (34,9%) in agriculture, 3,733 (18,2%)in industry and 9,658 (46,9%) in services. Unemployed was 1,451 thousand (6,6%),under-employed 2,043 (7,0%), total unemployed and under-employed 3,494(13,6%) [SPO, 2002 Annual Program].

A comparison of sector shares in GDP and employment indicates that the value added per employment was about 4 times as big in industry as compared to agriculture; in services it was 3,2 times as big. This difference stems from a much higher level of capital usage and a much higher technological level in industry compared to agriculture. In addition, in agriculture we have considerable disguised unemployment as well as seasonal unemployment.Region is the least developed. But the population there is also fractional due to internal migration. The recent efforts to realize the "Southeastern Anatolian Project'', however, have given a new acceleration to the Southeast; though much of this project still remains to be completed.