Abstract
In 2000, for the first time in Anatolian history farmers were not the largest working population. It is commonly argued that the decreasing number of farmers in Turkey is a direct result of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) which induce distorting effects on countries’ rural dynamics and precipitate exodus of small farmers from land and agricultural production in the post 1980 era. This study intends to analyze the micro world of these macro policies, the SAPs, in Harmanl? village in Karacabey, Bursa. The original contribution is to show ongoing rural transformation in a micro-environment by emphasizing what the SAPs mean on the ground. Surveys and statistical data reduce farmers to production units so many goods and services they generate become invisible from a neoliberal perspective. Therefore, here, the challenge is to tease out the political, social, and economic consequences of the SAPs in a micro-environment with special emphasis on the experiences of farmers who are facing impacts of structural reform one-to-one.
For the majority of small farmers, SAPs continuously diminish the level of income and farming on its own becomes unable to provide sufficient livelihood for rural dwellers. This study teases out the process of easing away from a strictly agrarian existence and engaging in multiple activities by examining recent trends in rural employment, occupational shifts, changes in the main income sources, emerging economic activities, and spatial relocation in Harmanl? village. It illustrates how rural inhabitants in the village manage their subsistence and overhaul consumption patterns, gender roles, and environment in order to surmount the vicissitudes of structural reform with reference to the political dimensions of livelihood adaptation and relations with the state.
In this study, the attention given to real experiences of rural producers instead of statistics enables us to investigate micro-level impacts of SAPs and what kind of coping strategies derive in Harmanl? village. Besides, a comprehensive analysis on livelihood strategies reminds us that resistance to free-market system begins with the mechanisms used by households to preserve subsistence level and social reproduction. Finally, it is important to note that this study would have been ineffectual without a critical perusal of the rural-urban linkages because these linkages are useful lens for understanding the complexities of rural inhabitants’ livelihoods and their coping strategies which usually include some form of mobility and diversification of income sources and occupations.
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