THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Our readers know, because I repeat it whenever I can. For me, the most important and primary problem in agriculture, food and non-wood forest products sectors, briefly in agriculture, is export!
Obviously the only option in this field is export. We should do whatever we can to boost agricultural exports. Of course, this is not as easy as it sounds. But we know that Turkiye really has this potential.
The real problem lies in the fact that Turkiye can take a radical policy change decision for the coming years and implement an “export-oriented agricultural strategy”. Therefore, a brand new perspective and a new roadmap seem necessary in this regard.
EXPORT-ORIENTED AGRICULTURAL STRATEGY…
Now let’s come to the export figures of 2021… Turkiye completed the year of 2021 with approximately 23 billion dollars in exports of agricultural, food and non-wood forest products. This performance is above the previous year, namely 2020. In this respect, we are faced with a positive picture.
However, if the policy change that I have underlined above can be realized, if the “export-oriented agricultural strategy” is accepted as a state policy and the new roadmap can be prepared accordingly, for example, Turkey’s agricultural exports can increase exponentially to over 50 billion dollars in 10-15 years.
This phenomenon will mean that Turkish agriculture will take on a completely different structural appearance. First of all, this radical transformation will yield a result in favour of the farmer, maybe not in the short run, but in the long run.
WE CAN EXCEED 25 BILLION DOLLARS…
If we go back to the export figures, we see that in 2021, the exports of plant products are 19.4 billion dollars, the exports of aquaculture and animal products are 3.4 billion dollars and the exports of non-wood forest products are about 200 million dollars.
So how did we start the new year? Let’s look at that too. If we consider that the agricultural export figure in January of last year was approximately 1.65 billion, we can consider that the said figure to exceed 2 billion dollars in January of the new year is a promising development.
If this upward trend can continue steadily, then this time we can reach the target that I put forward last year as “We will most likely reach 25 billion dollars,” but which unfortunately did not meet my expectations. I personally think that the increasing trend in agricultural exports will continue.
Last word; however, we are still far below our export potential in this sector. There is no alternative but to plan production and industrial policies in agriculture and food entirely for export!
This is my sincere opinion and suggestion which I would like to present to the attention of the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Bekir Pakdemirli and Minister of Trade Dr. Mehmet Muş.
By İsmail Uğural, Agricultural Writer
Administrator – https://www.turkishagrinews.com
