Turkey produces large variety of organic products it cannot consume

Turkey is normally a land of agriculture and used to be one of the rare countries capable of growing almost any agricultural product to survive, until a while ago. The country also has organic agricultural production with 70 thousand farmers actively involved. It is reported however it is not possible to talk about a satisfactory consumption of agricultural products in this country due to of high prices, insecurity and lack of consciousness.

Fertilizers, hormones, overuse pesticides are making our food more and more unhealthy every day, both in agricultural areas and homes. Thanks to the demand from European importers, Turkey started organic production free of artificial fertilizers in 1994. Currently, only 2 percent of Turkey’s total agricultural land can be used for organic farming. 70 thousand families make their living with organic agriculture. While organic production was focused on exports only for several years, it has been possible to observe a significant improvement in the production of organic products for the domestic market in the last 10 years, as well. At first it was possible to find see a few kinds of organic dried fruits on the shelves, whereas today a large variety of organic products are available for local consumption. However, it is difficult to say that organic consumption in Turkey has even reached 1 percent. It is a fact that in developed European countries and USA this ratio normally exceeds 10 percent. Reports say there is an organic product market of over 80 billion dollars worldwide.

 Regarding the statistic for Turkey, it is estimated that the export and domestic markets together are about 1 billion dollars. The good point is the organic agriculture sector seems to be growing around 15-20 per cent every year.