The Role of Agriculture in Regional Development: Determination and Recommendations from the Case of TR61 Region in Türkiye

Eliminating regional imbalances and developing regions is a situation that has been desired by societies for many years. To realize regional development effectively and to use resources rationally for this purpose, it is necessary to be aware of the existing potential of the regions and to reveal their strengths and weaknesses. Agriculture is a sector that plays a key role in regional and national development. TR61 Region (Antalya, Isparta, Burdur) is a Level 2 region according to The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) and has high agricultural potential because of its soil structure, water resources, underground riches, flora, and fauna. In this context, this study aimed to reveal the agricultural potential and current situation of the TR 61 region with a comparative method. The period range of this study covers the year 2000 and later, and the data of the last current year were used in the comparison of the data in the study. Because of this research, it has been determined that agriculture makes an important contribution to the development of the region. The region stands out in many areas such as grain, vegetable and fruit production, organic farming practices, undercover farming, and herbal and animal production. The region also draws attention in terms of agricultural tools and machinery, agricultural investments, sectoral exports, as well as many leading sectors such as food, cosmetics, and rose industry. In addition, because of this research, it has also been observed that the existing potential has not been shown effectively. Based on these research findings, it can be said that cooperative steps are needed to increase the contribution of agriculture to regional development and this process should be supported by policies.