Press release…
In 2020, when the biggest epidemic faced by humanity in the last 100 years reached its peak, the Turkish farmer met the needs of 84 million people and increased the production of Turkish delicacies to be exported to all over the world and eased the pandemic conditions.
The Turkish Agricultural Sector, which produces 239 million tonnes of crops annually and represents 6 percent of Turkey’s Gross National Product and 19 percent of employment, grew by 4.8 percent while the world economy contracted by 3.3 percent in 2020.
While the agricultural output of Turkish farmers working with superhuman power in the pandemic reached a record level with 333.3 billion TL during the pandemic period, the Aegean Exporters’ Associations (EİB) carried agricultural products exports to 5 billion 100 million dollars during the pandemic period.
The heads of the agricultural associations within the EİB thanked the farmers for their efforts in the pandemic process in their messages on May 14, World Farmers’ Day.
Eskinazi: Turkish farmers came out stronger from the pandemic
Explaining that the “We have money, we import” discourse was shelved with the pandemic and that the “We Support Domestic and National Production” approach came to the fore after the pandemic, Aegean Exporters’ Associations Coordinator Chairperson Jak Eskinazi said, “The demand for healthy food increased with the pandemic and that Turkish farmers emerged from this process by getting stronger.”
Stating that the importance of sustainability in agricultural production is clearly revealed, Eskinazi added, “We still have 4 million hectares of cultivable but empty lands in Turkey. We need to provide an ecosystem in which our farmers will produce and receive their labour with the support of the state.”