Düzce youth balances factory work with livestock farming

İsrafil Çakmak, a 23-year-old graduate of Trabzon University, is balancing factory work with traditional livestock farming in the Halilbey village of Düzce, Turkey. Through the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s ‘Kırsalda Bereket Küçükbaşa Destek’ (Abundance in Rural Areas Small Ruminant Support) project, Çakmak acquired 95 sheep and 5 rams provided by the General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises (TİGEM).

Supported by a monthly maintenance subsidy of 15,000 Turkish Lira, Çakmak manages the livestock alongside his parents, Mustafa and Dilber Çakmak. He expressed a desire to preserve his family’s ancestral profession and encouraged other young people to maintain their traditional agricultural roots rather than abandoning them.