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TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL 
AFFAIRS FOR THE DESIGN OF A FUNCTIONING IACS AND LPIS IN TURKEY 
H. Erden a , E. Mercimek b 
a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, General Directorate of Agricultural Production and Development, Eskisehir 
Yolu 9.km, Lodumlu Ankara, Turkey-herden45@gmail.com.tr 
b INTA Spaceturk, Haymana Yolu 12.km, Golbasi Ankara, Turkey-emercimek@spaceturk.com.tr 
Commission I, ThS-1 
KEY WORDS: integrated Administration and Control System, Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Ortho imagery, Reference 
Parcel, Agriculture, CAPI (Computer Aided Photo Interpretation), Control with Remote Sensing (CwRS), GIS 
(Geographical Information System) 
ABSTRACT: 
This paper aimed to give information about recently completed EU Project with the overall objective; supporting Turkish 
Government in setting up functional Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) in order to administrate agricultural 
supports in line with EU acquis and practices for nationwide implementation which is currently under construction. Project has two 
associated components which comprises technical and institutional activities. Technical phase applied in two pilot provinces where 
computer aided photointerpretation (CAPI) method is applied for GIS based LPIS creation, which is followed by farmer 
consultations realised on field in order to structure the link between farmers and agricultural parcels used by them. Based on the facts 
and examination of orthoimages, physical block decided to be used as reference parcel for primary digitalization and creating the 
geodatabase of eligible land..Linkage between the user and agricultural area through farmer consultations, are used to assess 
feasibility of creating a new system of direct payments that cuts the link between support and the production. The second component 
is the thematic phase including the projections for the establishment of whole system, integrating the outcomes of first phase and 
preparation of by-law drafts within the frame of legislative studies. This paper will focus on description of technical steps and will 
not concentrate on project activities of thematic phase. Since the project was the preliminary step before the establishment of 
IACS/LPIS in nationwide scale, the results and experience gained from the project opened the way to prepare the necessary technical 
and legislative framework for future implementations. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
With its technical, economical, social and political aspects, 
agricultural sector has indispensable importance with different 
characteristics than the other sectors. In addition to the 
importance of agriculture; stability of existing agricultural land, 
and furthermore the continuous decrease in total area due to use 
of land for non agricultural purposes or misuse, increased the 
importance of existing agricultural land registry (detailed 
inventory), registration concerning their qualifications and 
provision of usage in a planned manner. 
IACS as a system covers mechanisms composed for the right 
administration and control of agricultural supports; while 
securing correct payments to farmers and preventing false 
declarations, enable real farmers, particularly the farmers who 
cultivate their lands, to be supported regarding their lands. Land 
parcel Identification System (LPIS) which is one of the 
components of Integrated Administration and Control System 
(IACS) has been used for the identification of agricultural land 
in EU. 
The document is based on the studies and outcome of the 
project funded by The European Union’s Programme and 
implemented by INTA Spaceturk in consortium with Ekotoxa 
S.r.o. and CS Systèmes D’information S.A. namely “Technical 
Assistance for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for 
the design of a functioning Integrated Administration and 
Control System (IACS) and a Land Parcel Identification System 
in Turkey (LPIS)” (TR. 0402.08/002) 
2. OVERVIEW 
The project chose the approach to implement the IACS/LPIS 
first in two pilot areas of Tekirdag and Agn Provinces. It was 
the assumption to observe there the implementation steps on a 
relatively small level before covering with the management 
systems to administrate direct income support the whole country. 
It was the main question to be answered by this project whether 
it is possible to implement the land parcel identification with the 
help of orthoimages in both areas. The hypothesis was if this 
proved to be possible, then it should not be too difficult from 
the technical point of view to extend the systems in the whole 
country. 
All EU member countries at the beginning of the 
implementation of the IACS had to decide how to implement a 
Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) in their country and 
on which practicable and reliable basis. 
Based on visual interpretation from VHR satellite images and 
field verification, reference parcel alternatives are evaluated to 
be used as graphical linkage of agricultural support applications. 
Definition of reference parcels are given, evaluation made 
through spatial difference between the relevant reference parcel 
type and the currently used agricultural land in order to address 
direct income support to the practicing farmer and avoid 
problems between owner and user of the land. 
To proceed successful with creation of LPIS database, it was 
necessary to prepare and draft a photo interpretation guideline,