Implementation Guide for Smart Irrigation System Investment Support Within the Scope of 2023 Rural Development Supports

One of the investment topics is smart irrigation systems

Smart irrigation system: Irrigation systems where the moisture content in the soil is sensed through placed sensors and controlled remotely or via automation from a center or mobile application.

Completion Period of Investments

The on-field installation of the purchased materials must be completed within 90 (ninety) days. The detection procedures for the individual irrigation system, whose purchase and on-field installation are carried out by the investors within the period in accordance with the project in the application file, are recorded in a report (on-site detection report) by the provincial project execution unit no later than 45 (forty-five) days as of the investor's payment request date.

For individual irrigation systems that are not completed by the investors within the period or are not purchased and installed on the field in accordance with the project in the application file, the grant agreement is unilaterally terminated upon determination by the Provincial Directorate with a report.

Qualifications Required in Applicants and Their Responsibilities Who Can Apply

• Provided that they are registered in the current Farmer Registration System (ÇKS); Real Persons, Legal Entities (Collective, limited, joint-stock companies), Irrigation Cooperatives, Agricultural Development Cooperatives, Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, and Irrigation Unions can apply.
• Applicants must be registered in the current Farmer Registration System (ÇKS) created by the Ministry.
• Only one application can be made for each province, and these applications may include more than one parcel and more than one investment topic.
• In applications to be made for more than one parcel, the necessary project criteria specified in the Communiqué and this Implementation Guide must be met separately for each parcel.
• Necessary permit documents regarding the water source must be available.
• A separate project and cost estimate will be prepared for each parcel, and these estimates will be combined with a summary to create the application budget. However, for parcels with adjacent borders, a single project and cost estimate can be prepared provided that water source adequacy and other conditions are met.

Applications shall be made to the Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in the province where the parcels applied for are located.

Miscellaneous Provisions

Companies established in the form of collective companies, limited companies, and joint-stock companies as defined in the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 dated 13/1/2011 may apply as legal entities, provided that it is stated in their articles of association that they can engage in agricultural production.

Real persons and the companies mentioned above can apply by leasing on their own lands for a period of at least 10 (ten) years or more. The end of the lease period must cover the mentioned period starting from the application date.

Those who have benefited from modern pressurized irrigation credit topics within the scope of the communiqués regarding the Application Principles for the Provision of Low-Interest Investment and Business Loans for Agricultural Production by T.C. Ziraat Bankası A.Ş. and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives that came into force in the last five-year period, including the year of application, and the communiqués to be issued on the same subject after the publication of this communiqué, cannot apply for a grant for the same parcel subject to credit. However, if credit support was previously received for a part of the parcel, an application can be made for the remaining part of the parcel, provided that the above conditions are met. In this case, information regarding the previously received credit support and the materials received within this scope will be specified in the project detail and the pipe layout/machine layout plan, and the compatibility of both projects will be demonstrated.

Grant Support Amount and Rate

Grant Rate: 50% (Fifty percent) - excluding VAT. Grant-Eligible Goods Purchase Amount (upper limit): 1,000,000.00 TL

Conditions Regarding Eligible Goods Purchase Expenses for Grant Support

• In the event that the goods purchase invoice is issued such that on-site delivery and installation expenses are included in the goods purchase price, the total amount is evaluated within the scope of grant support. If goods purchase expenses and on-site delivery and installation expenses are invoiced as separate items in the invoice, only the goods purchase price is evaluated within the scope of grant support.
• Priority is given (in scoring) to projects prepared by institutions (Faculties of Agriculture, Chamber of Agricultural Engineers, and Ministry Research Institutes). A contract must be signed between the relevant firm or institution that prepared the project and the investor, and it must be included in the application file. With this contract, it should be ensured that the firm or institution that prepared the project is also responsible for problems arising from project construction.
• Within the scope of applications for establishing smart irrigation systems; ensuring the operation of the system for materials used only within the field, such as sensors, fully automatic filters, fertilizer tanks with mixers, flow-controlled fertilization pumps, solenoid valves, meteorology stations, and control systems, in the parcels belonging to the application, performing complete installation checks, and issuing detection reports.
• In smart irrigation systems; the size of the land where the system will operate within the parcel to be applied for (projected parcel area) must be 100 da. and above. In cases where applications are made for more than one parcel, adjacent parcels should be evaluated as a single parcel, and in cases where applications are made for independent parcels, the 100-decare requirement should be evaluated separately for each parcel. The water source documented for the project must be in sufficient quantity for the size of the land where the system will operate.

Application Method, Place, and Time

It is prepared in accordance with the application form (ANNEX-2) and its annexes included in the Implementation Guide. If an application is to be made for more than one parcel, the application form is prepared separately for each parcel and submitted as a single project file.

The following documents within the application file:

• Receipt Document
• Grant application form,
• Project Cost Estimate,
• Soil and Water Analysis Reports must be uploaded to the database.
• The Irrigation Project will be uploaded to the database with a signature.

Conditions Regarding Water Source

• If an application is to be made for more than one parcel, these conditions must be met and documented for each parcel;
• "Water Source Usage Permit/Allocation Document" to be obtained from the relevant institution for surface water sources,
• "Groundwater Usage Document" to be obtained from the relevant institution for groundwater sources
• Except for wells for which a groundwater usage document has been obtained within the scope of the neighbor's right heading in the Groundwater Regulation put into effect by the Council of Ministers Decision dated 20/7/1961 and numbered 5/1465, only one application can be made for wells belonging to individuals. Grant support is not provided for applications made by leasing a well. However, if there is a well with a groundwater usage document in the name of the land owner within the leased land, it is accepted. For applications to be made for wells located on purchased lands, a groundwater usage document must be obtained in the name of the new owner of the land.
• In cases where hydrants in collective pressurized irrigation systems operated by irrigation unions or irrigation cooperatives are allocated to more than one farmer, more than one application can be made for the same hydrant, provided that a water usage permit is obtained from the irrigation union or irrigation cooperative. The parcel number of the parcel to which water is allocated, the number of the hydrant from which water is taken, and the flow rate to be allocated based on the project must be specified in the water usage permit to be obtained. However, if the sum of the allocated flow rates is above the flow rate specified in the project of the collective pressurized irrigation system for each hydrant, these documents will not be considered appropriate.
• For applications where the water source is a caisson well, the well license requirement will not be sought; it will be sufficient for the well to be determined as a caisson well by geological engineers or provincial project execution unit personnel and for the flow rate of the well to be determined and recorded in a report.
• The flow rates deemed appropriate in the Water Source Usage Permit / Allocation Document to be obtained from the relevant institution for surface water sources or the Groundwater Usage Document to be obtained from the relevant institution for groundwater sources, and the flow rates determined by measuring in caisson wells, must be in an amount to meet the seasonal total irrigation water need found as a result of calculations in irrigation projects. Irrigation projects that do not meet the said flow rates will not be deemed appropriate.