Türkiye’s Agriculture Minister celebrates record production and growth

Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Ibrahim Yumakli, praises the country’s agricultural output achievements

Ibrahim Yumakli, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, praised Türkiye’s agricultural output accomplishments during the “Ziraat Bankasi Agricultural Ecosystem Meeting.” Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s leadership, Türkiye has made significant advances in agriculture.

Minister Yumakli emphasized complete assistance for agricultural areas, including crop and animal production, aquaculture, agricultural research and development, rural development investments, water and irrigation projects, and subsidies/loans. These programs have effectively exposed farmers to modern farming methods.

Special programs aimed at young and female farmers have led to significant increases in agricultural indicators. “Our agriculture-forestry sector has experienced growth in 16 of the last 21 years,” Yumakli stated, highlighting the positive impact of measures.

Türkiye produced a record 137 million tons of crops last year. “With an agricultural output valued at $69.2 billion, Türkiye ranks first in Europe and among the top 10 globally,” Yumakli added. “In the first quarter of this year, we reached an all-time high with $9.3 billion in agricultural exports, producing enough to meet domestic needs and exporting the surplus.”

Yumakli acknowledged global and regional issues during the last decade, such as climate change, population increase, pandemics, wars, natural catastrophes, and migrations. Despite these hurdles, Türkiye’s agricultural growth has remained strong.

Last year, there were 74,000 more farmers enrolled in the Farmer Registration System, and the total cultivated area grew by 6.4 million decares. Yumakli emphasized the need to strengthen the agricultural infrastructure built over the previous 22 years, with the goal of making the “Century of Türkiye” a time of productivity and prosperity.

The minister identified five major pillars of Turkish agriculture policy: sustainability, productivity, quality, registration, and investment. Recent initiatives include production planning, contract farming, rejuvenating underused agricultural areas, increasing registered land, increasing the number of assisted farmers, and performing agricultural censuses. These activities are starting to show great benefits.

“In line with our production planning, technical committees will complete their decision-making processes this week,” Yumakli stated. “Reports will be submitted for government clearance, and we will shortly release our three-year production plans to the public. We will include our new agricultural assistance model in these plans, bolstering our industry.

Yumakli stressed the importance of subsidized agricultural loans in improving modern farming technologies for the past 22 years. These loans have given critical funding for farmers to invest, raise productivity, and increase earnings.

“Together with the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, we are working intensively to meet the sector’s financial needs,” Yumakli remarked. “The new loans tied into production planning and contract farming will be extremely advantageous. With the idea ‘Whoever controls the key to the barn holds the power,’ we will strive relentlessly to improve our country’s competitiveness.”

Source: Newsroom