Semi-arid areas cover about 55% of Turkey and are mainly found in the Central Anatolian Plateau. The main crop production systems are fallow/wheat and legume/wheat. Wheat is generally prone to droughts, which severely affect the yields. Research on soil moisture use in fallow-wheat systems started in the 1930s. Its focus was on water interception and conservation techniques, and detailed research on rainfall interception led to practices which have been adopted by most of the plateau farmers. In the 1980s research focused on the replacement of fallow by a crop in the rotation systems. In most areas, fallow can best be replaced in terms of yield by forage crops and economically by edible legumes. Characterization of the other regions will identify fallow or continuous cropping target areas, and extrapolation of research results to them. Regarding technologies, the importance of terracing for moisture conservation increases with the degree of slope and the occurrence of erosive rainfall. Contour tillage and sowing were effective only on steep slopes. Future research is needed on supplemental irrigation to increase the water-use efficiencies of the wheat and barley varieties especially developed for irrigation.
