The leasing of uncultivated lands in Erzincan was discussed.

Agricultural lands that are owned by real and legal persons and have not been cultivated for two consecutive years will be leased seasonally for agricultural purposes by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Trainings related to this issue have begun in Erzincan.

The Regulation on the Leasing of Uncultivated Agricultural Lands for Agricultural Purposes has come into force. The regulation covers the procedures and operations regarding the seasonal leasing of agricultural lands owned by real and legal persons that have not been cultivated for two consecutive years by the Ministry.

Agricultural lands that have not been cultivated for two consecutive years will be leased seasonally by the Ministry on the condition that the nature of the land is not changed and that it is used for agricultural production by the lessee.

In this regard, the Erzincan Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry has started training for personnel in the province and districts. The training meeting, chaired by Erzincan Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Murat Şahin, was attended by branch and district directors as well as technical staff on the subject.

In his speech at the meeting, Provincial Director Murat Şahin stated that the purpose of leasing uncultivated lands by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is to increase agricultural production across the country. Director Şahin said, “An Agricultural Identification Commission will be established within the provincial or district directorate to identify the lands to be leased.”

Later in the meeting, Agricultural Infrastructure and Land Evaluation Branch Director Agricultural Engineer Tarık Kadıoğlu provided information to the participants about how the system will work.

The Agricultural Identification Commission will detect uncultivated agricultural lands through cadastral parcel data, satellite images, geographic information systems, data obtained from other public institutions, and field checks. The data that can serve as a basis for the identification studies will be provided by the Ministry.

In the identification of uncultivated agricultural lands, the date of September 1 of the current year and the harvest periods that vary by region will be taken into account, with a deadline of August 31 of the following year.