THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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İbrahim Yumaklı, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, reported that Türkiye, with 23.9 million hectares of cultivated agricultural land, continues to be the first agricultural country in Europe in terms of agricultural output by exporting as well as meeting the food needs of the country’s population exceeding 85 million and tourists approaching 50 million.
Pointing out that in the last 3 years, production records have been broken in sugar beet, corn, sunflower, soya, cotton, dry onion, dry bean, oat, olive, apple, cherry, pear, fig, pistachio, tangerine, lemon, peach, banana, strawberry, pomegranate, plum, walnut, quince, almond, kiwi, persimmon, tomato, Yumaklı said, “Moreever, an all-time production record was broken in pepper and cabbage production. Therefore as a result of the policies implemented in our country, significant increases in productivity obtained from unit area have been achieved and our total amount of plant production has grown. The amount of plant production, which was 98 million tonnes in 2002, rose by 39.5 percent to 136.9 million tonnes in 2023.”
According to the data of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Türkiye ranks 12th in the world in the production of plant products, 4th in vegetable production and 6th in fruit production globally, Yumaklı explained, “Our country is the world leader in the production of hazelnuts, cherries, figs, apricots, quince and carob. We are the second in the world in melon, watermelon, cucumber, leek, olive, tangerine and apple production. Third in the world in strawberry, chickpea and tomato production. Fourth in the world in chestnut, walnut, pear and lentil production. Fifth in sugar beet production. It ranks sixth in grape and seventh in cotton production. Türkiye is the world’s leading exporter of hazelnuts, dried apricots, dried figs, raisins and quince. It ranks first in the world in wheat flour exports and second in makama exports.”
Yumaklı indicated that Türkiye meets domestic needs in the agricultural sector and is a net exporter in foreign trade of agricultural and food products and added, “Our export of agricultural and food products, which was 3.8 billion dollars in 2002, soared to 26.5 billion dollars in 2023 and a foreign trade surplus of 5.36 billion dollars was given in 2023.”
Highlighting that farmers are given plant production supports, Yumaklı noted, “As a result of the activities aimed at bringing idle and empty areas and fallow areas into agricultural production within the scope of boosting plant production by our Ministry, 4.7 million decares of land have been brought into agricultural production in the last two years, fallow areas have been reduced by 2.45 million decares and the cultivation area of field crops has risen by 6.49 million decares.”
Agricultural supports 91.55 billion liras in 2024…
Emphasizing that 12 different projects are being carried out in order to develop crop production and improve pasture areas, Yumaklı concluded:
“In order to activate the use of agricultural lands, projects are carried out across the country with a maximum of 75 percent in-kind support in order to ramp up crop production by using appropriate production techniques in areas that are not in the cultivation programme and fallow areas and areas that are not suitable for cultivated agriculture. In this context, support payments are made to farmers in order to raise crop production in the country, to enhance yield and quality, to ensure sustainability, to scale up registration and to develop environmentally sensitive alternative agricultural techniques and thus agricultural supports will be 91.55 billion liras in 2024.”
