THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı stated that they will remove the issue of red meat imports from the country’s agenda by 2028.
Pointing out the importance of sustainability of animal production, Yumaklı said that in the last 23 years, the number of cattle increased by 71 percent to 17 million heads, the number of ovine animals increased by 72 percent to 55 million heads, and the number of poultry increased by 55 percent to 380 million.
Highlighting that these figures show that all animal production has surged between 2 and 4 times minimum, Yumaklı shared the following information:
“This success we have achieved in animal production has of course carried us to important places in the world rankings. When we look at the presence of bovine animals on a world scale, we are 22nd in the world and 2nd in Europe. When we look at the number of ovine animals, we are ranked 7th in the world and first in Europe. We rank 7th in the world and 1st in Europe in beef production. We rank 9th in the world and 2nd in Europe in chicken meat production. We rank 10th in the world and 2nd in Europe in egg production. In honey production, we rank 2nd in the world and 1st in Europe. As you can see, our production power is extremely important for the geography we are in, but we are an important producer country in the world ranking in the way that all countries have their eyes on us. If we need to talk about our animal production exports, we can say that our exports have soared by 14 times compared to 2002 and reached 3.5 billion dollars.”
Underlining that the sufficiency in red meat is 95 percent, Yumaklı said, “Meat imports, which have been carried out by the private sector for 14 years, are conducted by the Meat and Milk Board (ESK) within the framework of our principle that the regulation duty is completely in public institutions as of 2024.”
“With this arrangement, we have ended some monopolisation issues in the private sector and at the same time, we have prevented exorbitant price hikes, which are also on the agenda of our citizens from time to time. Especially the issue of exorbitant price hikes before every Ramadan has not been realised for this year,” Yumaklı added…
