Rural Development Projects Field Visits
Ankara Development Agency organized a field visit to successful projects in rural districts of Ankara for the delegation of the General Directorate of Development Agencies of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. The first visit of the delegation was to the projects in Ayaş and Beypazarı districts.
Funda KÜLERİ, Head of Local and Rural Development Coordination Department of the Directorate General of Development Agencies and experts from the Directorate, was accompanied by Emine DOĞRUKÖK, Deputy Secretary General of Ankara Development Agency, Zekai EFEOĞLU, Head of Rural Development Unit and Agency experts.
Within the scope of the first project visited, “the Innovative SPP Application Suitable for Dual Use of Agricultural Land in Ayaş - AgroPV Project”, the installation of Solar Tracking Solar Power Plants (SPP), which is an innovative method in sustainable energy production and which is installed on the land where agricultural activities are carried out in a way that does not prevent agricultural activity, has been realized in Ayaş. The project aims to reduce the impact of increases in energy costs, which is an important cost in the agricultural production process, on farmers. The second project visited was the Ayaş Akkaya Cooperative Strengthening with Value Added Products Project, where the production capacity of tomato and pepper paste was doubled by renewing the existing machinery of the cooperative and supplying deficiencies. In parallel with the improved production capacity, the cooperative's sales and export capacity was also improved.
During the Beypazarı leg of the visit, the "I Produce Technology for My Future" project of Beypazarı Fatih Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School was first examined. With the project, R&D, quality control, prototype, printing, mass production and assembly workshops, new and creative ideas in the field of technology have been created. Thanks to the workshops created, the school can produce many original products, especially electronic experiment sets, both for its own students and for the needs of different schools. Secondly, “the Anatolian Open Air Museum Project” was visited. Thanks to the project, compilation studies on traditional architecture and culture were carried out and 2 houses with the architecture of different regions in Turkey were built to be used as museums. The Open Air Museum of Anatolia was established to show Turkey's cultural diversity, to study and share this traditional knowledge in depth, and to enable the next generation to recognize and be inspired by this heritage. Lastly, “the Development of Innovative and Sustainable Production of Food Products Produced in the Rural Areas of Beypazarı”, a project implemented by the S. S. Beypazarı Kınalı Eller Lezzet Atölyesi Agricultural Development Cooperative was visited. The project aims to produce a new product line consisting of vegan and gluten-free products especially for export. In line with this goal, the project aims to improve the cooperative's capacity to produce innovative products, diversify existing economic activities, and improve employment and income opportunities for women cooperative employees/partners.
During the field visits, detailed information was obtained from the applicants about the formation and execution stages of the projects, the challenges encountered before and after the project, and the project achievements. Views on the Agency's support processes, evaluations on the ongoing impacts of the project and the scalability of the projects were also heard from the applicants.
In order to evaluate the impacts of the projects implemented by the Agency in the rural districts of Ankara, field visits will be organized for different districts in the coming periods.