Cumhuriyet Dönemi Türkiye’sinde Ziraat Vekâletinin Tarım Bilgisini Halka Ulaştırma Çabası (1923-1960)

The Efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture in Republican Period Turkey to Make Agricultural Knowledge Accessible to the Public (1923-1960)

Abstract

In this study, the books, manuals, posters and brochures published by the Ministry of Agriculture from the early years of the Republic to the 1960s in order to provide ‘agricultural information’ to farmers were analysed. The aim of the study is to determine the impact of the agricultural policies implemented in Turkey between 1923 and 1960 on public education. The inadequacies of the agricultural policies inherited from the empire in terms of quantity and quality, and the socio-economic and psychological crises caused by the long-lasting wars revealed the necessity to integrate the public with basic agricultural knowledge effectively. In this direction, this study, which examines how information is transferred to the society in a simplified manner through various works, is a qualitative research. The sources that constitute the material of the study were obtained through libraries. How agricultural knowledge is conveyed to the public through books, courses, conferences and various brochures was analysed.

While analysing the efforts to convey agricultural knowledge to the public through printed works, answers to the questions determined after the classification of the relevant works were sought. At this point in the study, ‘How was agricultural knowledge explained to the public? What kind of warnings and suggestions were made in the context of agricultural pests and diseases that plague plants? How was the relationship between agricultural policy and farmers constructed in the related works? How was the public directed to knowledge based on reason and science in the face of misinformation? What kind of methods were used in the expression of knowledge? What was said about the relationship between education and agriculture in the works?