Water Access Injustice Deepens in Southeastern Fields
· GıdaTarım
In Southeastern Anatolia, deep well usage tied to capital power creates a yield gap between neighboring plots, with experts pointing to modern transmission lines as the solution.
Field observations conducted in the Southeastern Anatolia region, along the Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, and Malatya line, reveal a serious water injustice in agricultural production. On neighboring fields with identical climate and soil conditions, producers who can afford to drill wells achieve high yields, while farmers lacking capital are forced into dry farming. This underground water usage, based on economic power, deepens the yield gap between the plots.
The distribution of the region's common water wealth according to capital strength directly threatens the sustainability of agricultural production. Experts emphasize that instead of building new dams, the water in existing dams should be delivered to every producer through lossless transmission lines. Modern transmission networks, where resources are shared fairly, need to be implemented instead of water distribution based on the producer's income.