THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Press release…
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) jointly launch a new publication on the role of digital technologies in transforming Türkiye’s agrifood systems.
11 April 2025, Ankara – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), hosted a launch event for their new report, Digital Technologies for Agriculture in Türkiye – A Review. The event brought together key stakeholders from across the agrifood system to discuss the transformative role of digital technologies in Türkiye’s agriculture sector.
The report, jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), explores the current state and future potential of digital technologies in Türkiye’s agriculture sector. Published under the Country Investment Highlights component of FAO’s Knowledge for Investment (K4I) Publication series, it is based on extensive fieldwork, including over 120 interviews with farmers, agribusinesses, cooperatives, technology providers, and public institutions. It offers a comprehensive analysis of Türkiye’s digital agriculture landscape, covering the enabling ecosystem, key technologies, adoption trends, and their applications in high-value sectors.
Digital Technologies for Agriculture in Türkiye – A Review also highlights the challenges faced by small-scale producers and identifies key barriers to adoption. It outlines practical, evidence-based recommendations for accelerating the inclusive digital transformation of Türkiye’s agrifood systems, focusing on scaling up digital innovation to improve efficiency, productivity, sustainability, and resilience across the sector.
The launch event for the report welcomed participants from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and other public institutions, AgTech companies and start-ups, technology users including farmers, agribusinesses and banks, as well as experts, researchers and members of academia, development partners and media representatives.
During the opening remarks at the event, Dr. Ayşegül Selışık, Assistant FAO Representative in Türkiye, spoke about the challenges of climate extremes and depleting resources, and underlined the need for a transformation in agriculture to increase global food production by 60 percent to feed 9.3 billion people by 2050. Dr. Selışık emphasized FAO’s efforts in this regard: “The agriculture sector is undergoing a major transformation with the rapid spread of digitalization and innovative technologies”, she explained. “FAO is at the forefront of this transformation, developing innovative tools such as smart agriculture, early warning systems and satellite-based agriculture applications”. She continued: “This report provides a roadmap and solutions for increasing productivity and production, as well as sustainability, in Türkiye’s agrifood sector. It is our hope that it will guide both large and small enterprises in the adoption of digital solutions for agriculture.”
Mehmet Üvez, Deputy Head of Türkiye at EBRD, began his opening speech by emphasizing the strong partnership between EBRD and FAO, both nationally and worldwide. He noted the significant growth of EBRD’s operations in Türkiye, which surpassed EUR 2.6 billion in investments last year, with agri-business emerging as one of the most vital sectors in this portfolio. Üvez further emphasized the potential impact of the new report, stating that: “the Turkish agriculture sector faces numerous setbacks and challenges including fragmented supply chains, high costs, volatility in international markets and more”. He continued: “This report offers promising solutions in several key areas where digital technologies can make a significant impact. Smart irrigation and e-commerce, among the technologies highlighted in the report, allow for better identification of risks, more timely and accurate decision-making, and a reduction in the use of resources such as water and energy.”
Speaking on behalf of the FAO Investment Centre, Deputy Director Nuno Santos delivered his opening speech online, beginning by thanking the FAO Representation in Türkiye and EBRD for their contributions to the report. Santos emphasized the crucial potential role of digital technologies in transforming the agrifood sector: “Digital technologies are key to the transformation of the agrifood sector”, he explained. “Technologies such as remote sensing, sensors, connectivity, the Internet of Things, big data, analytics and AI, to name just a few, hold great promise to increase productivity and improve resource use. However, there are also many challenges – notably, how to scale up these technologies through public investment policies and collaboration with the private sector.”
Santos further highlighted the report’s importance in terms of analysing key trends and challenges. He explained: “This report identifies the main technologies currently in use, along with barriers to adoption and potential for expansion. It focuses particularly on smart farming technologies used by farmer cooperatives, and how these technologies are utilized by agribusiness companies working with contracted farmers”. He continued: “The report provides a comprehensive snapshot of digital technologies used in Türkiye, while also looking ahead at how we can scale-up adoption to increase productivity and accelerate the transformation of agrifood systems.”
The final speech was delivered by Wojtek Boniaszczuk, Regional Agribusiness Head at EBRD. He explained that the report, prepared jointly by EBRD and FAO, “confirms the critical role that digital technologies can play in driving efficiency and creating new opportunities for local companies, including enhanced access to finance”. He continued: “digitalization offers a promising solution to these challenges, enabling more efficient use of natural resources and energy and higher productivity, while ensuring that nature is preserved and people are employed.” Boniaszczuk noted, however, that “despite the potential benefits, the uptake of digital technologies in Türkiye’s agriculture sector has remained relatively low, as the report identifies, and that addressing these challenges will require targeted investment, public-private partnerships and financial mechanisms to support inclusive growth”.
The event continued with a presentation of the report’s findings by the authors, Frank Höllinger, Senior Rural Finance Officer at FAO Investment Centre, and Berkin Şafak Şener, Economist at the FAO Investment Centre. They detailed the report’s conclusions, the methodologies used in their research, and the current state of infrastructure and access to digital tools for farmers and producers. They also provided recommendations for the further digitalization of Türkiye’s agricultural systems based on the report’s findings. Their presentation was followed by an extensive Q&A session with the participants.
The launch event concluded with a panel discussion on the current state of agricultural systems in relation to digitalization. Moderated by Nemanja Grgić, Associate Director of Food and Agribusiness/Corporate Sector Advisory at EBRD, the panel featured Fikriye Berk (Executive Director of METOS Türkiye), Merve Cansın Kaplan (Sustainability, Strategy and Communications Manager at TAT Gıda), Mahmut Sami Çiftçi (Director of Soil, Fertilizer and Water Resources Central Research Institute), Gökhan Özertan (Professor of Economics at Boğaziçi University) and Emre Tunalı (Co-founder of Agrovisio). The panelists discussed the findings of the report in greater detail, expanding on the key challenges and solutions presented and focusing in particular on the role of digital technologies in transforming Türkiye’s agrifood systems…
