Changing in crop patterns and possible adverse effects in Kızıltepe districts

The population of the plain Kızıltepe, which is in the southwestern part of the plain Mardin, is rapidly increasing due to the its productive and large lands. Whereas cereals such as wheat and barley and legumes such as lentils and chickpeas were covered and dominant in the plain with the fallow method till the early 2000s, in the recent years, the irrigated agriculture became widespread with the introduction of groundwater and thereby, higher-yielding products such as corn and cotton came into prominence. The transition to irrigated agriculture and expansion or restriction of product plantation lands are possible to watch with view of our observations and satellite views by the year 2000 and 2010. In particular, the close relationship between our interviews with farmers, changes in satellite images and data on TSI product plantation lands indicated that the reliability of data with the TSI and Landsat satellite images. In addition, rotation of product cultivation was successfully implemented in here. However, calcification, desertification and salinization like important issued emerged in Harran and Kayapınar plains in the past because of the not taken the measures necessary for irrigation and inappropriate irrigation techniques. For this purpose, climate date, water capacity and crop water-requirements like parameters of Kızıltepe district were evaluated as well. Thus, in the present study, changing in cropping patterns with the introduction to irrigated agriculture, the relationship between crop water-requirements and climate and potential possible problems to be emerged were evaluated and discussed in here, Kızıltepe.