Page 158 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1

The significance of pastures

The areas of conflicts seen in news on pasture areas seem to be in line
with the environmental movements observed between the years 2009-2019
in Türkiye (Figure 7). It is also worth noting that there is an increase in climate
actions in the environmental movements in Türkiye (Hazar Kalonya, 2021).

Figure 7: Environmental movements in Türkiye, 2009-2019 (Hazar Kalonya, 2021)
In the field studies implemented in 50 villages between the years, 2017-
2018 in Aliağa, Bornova and Torbalı, it was observed that the majority of cattle
breeding is carried out intensively in barns with ready-made corn silage; goat
and sheep breeding, on the other hand is done extensively in pastures, and
forage plants are produced or bought to meet the need for silage. Over
the last three decades, there has been a decrease in the number of sheep
and goat bred due to increasing costs, subsidies on cattle breeding, and
insufficient profits from the sector. Additionally, the migration of younger
population from villages to cities, causes difficulty in employing shepherds to
herd the animals. Despite these difficulties, however, goat and sheep breeding
is still a major agricultural sector in İzmir. Furthermore, there seems to be an
increase in apiculture in pastures and forests. This constitutes a potential for
the regaining of functions in pastures.
During the interviews, when asked about the migration from rural to urban
areas, and the resulting change in town populations, 83% of headmen in
Bornova stated that there was no population decrease in villages, and as
the villages are close to city centers, people working in Bornova and Ege
University as well as retirees prefer to move to villages in Bornova. Only in
villages of Sarnıçköy and Kurudere migration is observed due to technical
and social infrastructure problems such as transport and education. The 67%

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