A survey on the contributions of ipard programme to the economic development and beneficiaries in rural areas and their expectations

Along with this survey, evaluation of the questionnaires conducted with the beneficiaries of the 1st and 2nd Call for Application period whom applied for milk and meat production and processing investments under Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD) Programme and the contributions of the beneficiaries of IPARD Programme to the economic development in their region and introduction oftheir expectations are aimed. Within the scope of the survey, primarily the rural development policies pursued by European Union (EU) as of its constitution and financial assistance provided to member and candidate states are examined. Besides, general information concerning the rural development projects implemented in Turkey is given and policy and strategy documents related to rural areas are tried to be explained. The supports under IPARD Programme are analyzed and information especially on measures and sub measures for meat and milk sector are provided. As a result of the questionnaires, the expectations of beneficiaries from IPARD Programme and the contributions of the Programme to the economy of the region were examined. Since the supports given under the Programme were particularly concentrated on meat and milk sector, supporting of as mentioned sectors its contributions for local economic development were attempted to be measured. As a conclusion, it can be declared that IPARD Programme contributes to the local economic development and fulfills the expectations of the beneficiaries to a great extent. Within the scope of IPARD Programme's impact on local economic development, 100% of the beneficiaries stated that as mentioned projets provided employment opportunities in local areas, improvement in the working environment of their staff and their region contributed to the economy of the country, 93.3 % of the beneficiaries expressed that they decreased the economic, social, political, cultural and geographical inequality of opportunity, 90 % of them reflected they increased the quality of life, production and productivity in the local area. Whilst the expectations from projects are analyzed, 100% of the beneficiaries expressed their intention to reduce the costs and make production at EU standards, 53.3 % of them targeted to make investment in a new sector and 40 % aimed to increase the capacity of their establishment. As it lacks an integrated rural development approach, it is attempted to express that it shall be incorrect to define IPARD Programme as a rural development programme. Therefore, the suggestions concerning the necessity of an integrated approach on rural development and the structure required to be established under this frame are presented.