Turkey’s 100-Year Plan

Turkey’s president and prime minister have identified agriculture a strategic sector and, together with policymakers at the Ministry of Agriculture, the government is targeting a 30% rise in agriculture products in the next 10 years. If Turkey becomes a top-five producer, it will rank after China, India, United States and Brazil and be regarded as one of the world’s elite ag powerhouses.

“This isn’t a 10-year plan, it is a 100-year plan,” Deputy Director General Dr. Nevzat Birisik told FCI at his office in the gleaming new Ministry of Agriculture building in Ankara in July. He wasn’t being sardonic. He, like many in government, is gearing up for the country’s 100th anniversary in 2023, and agriculture has been pivotal in the success and development of the country’s society and economy. Turkey has been self-sufficient in food production since the 1980s, and its widespread agriculture sector employs more than 25% of the country.

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A 30% rise in agricultural output would boost production value to about $100 million, which would place Turkey at No. 6 just behind Indonesia. But Turkey’s additional output will come from higher-value goods than Indonesia’s palm oil, the country’s main cash crop. Turkey is the world’s top producer of hazelnuts, cherries, figs, apricots, quinces and pomegranates. It is the second-largest producer of watermelons, cucumbers, chestnuts and chickpeas.
Crop protection is on the front lines of this expansion and is poised to benefit exponentially.

Pesticides are the most important input for Turkey because of it agronomic diversity and corresponding pest pressures. The country has nine agricultural zones that grow everything from bananas to winter wheat, along with 553 pests to control as a result.

The first key takeaway is that crop inputs are poised to explode in Turkey. The country’s expanding prescription system combined with government subsidies means that farm incomes are climbing and farmers will have better access to farm production technologies. Win, win.

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The second lesson is that an agricultural system as rich as Turkey’s requires a long-term plan to grow and to capitalize on. Agriculture has always been a pillar industry in Turkey, and governments through the years have been proud of the country’s rich agriculture tradition and productivity.
Multinational companies are strong in Turkey. Many new products are tested there long before they are marketed to the rest of the world, and strong relationships

throughout the value chain have helped them control as much as 85% of the market as recently as 2000. But since then, post-patent products and companies have been gaining momentum and now control about 50% of the market.

Turkey is enacting policies during the next couple years that will usher an input boom throughout its growing regions. But it will require a 10-year plan of your own to capitalize on the growth. Long-term growth plans are not just a mechanism of R&D departments and multinational companies. They must be strategic sales and marketing plans that evaluate relationships, product pipelines and market dynamics that will allow companies to react to opportunities.

Policies are changing to help growers capitalize on crop protection technologies to a greater degree, and we are eager to discuss all the opportunities available in the coming weeks and months leading up to our FCI Trade Summit for the Black Sea Region in Istanbul, Dec. 12-13.
We will be covering the Black Sea Region in detail during the next few months and look forward to seeing you in Istanbul in December so we can continue to work together to build a long-term strategy for the betterment of the crop protection industry. 

 

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