DETERMINING AND MAPPING THE POTENTIAL ORGANIC FARMING AREAS IN ISTANBUL

Abstract

1/100 000 scaled Environmental Management Plan of Istanbul Province has planned to use the green belt of Istanbul for agricultural purposes. One of the most important factors for the agricultural planning process is the protection of the water basins in Istanbul towards the fertilisers and pesticides pollutions. There are, in addition, other important factors influencing the agricultural planning which are providing rural development, prevention of land misuse and protection of bio-diversity. One of the most appropriate approaches to perform these aims is organic farming. This study is a side project of the 1/100000 scaled Environmental Management Plan of Istanbul Province and aimed at determining and mapping the potential organic farming areas in Istanbul. The study consists of 2 phases. First phase is synthesising the parameters of meteorological, topographic, agricultural, soil and forestry database, water basins, settlement, industrial, mining and waste disposal areas and transportation network. Multi-Criteria Suitability Analysis for organic farming areas by these parameters was determined through the quarries in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. In the second phase the field surveys were submitted including soil and land survey in the rural areas about 253 000 ha and conducted polls in the rural settlements. The potential organic farming areas were determined and classified into 3 groups according to its priority degree. The results indicated that the potential organic farming areas in Istanbul, classified as first, second and third priority, covered, respectively, the surface area of 27 060, 5183 and 415 ha. which could promote the organic agricultural production.