EU: Turkey Needs to Undertake Further Reforms in Agriculture

Turkey is the world’s largest producer of hazelnuts, apricots and cherries, and the second largest producer of figs, chestnuts, pistachios, cucumbers and watermelons.

Despite its significant economic achievements in other sectors in recent years, agricultural policy remains an area for further reform, the latest Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report on Turkey’s agricultural policy has warned.

The Evaluation of Agricultural Policy Reforms in Turkey report highlights Turkey’s significant socioeconomic transformation since 2001. As a result of economic reforms, the more than 7 percent annual growth rate over 2002-07 set a record among OECD countries, the report says. It also applauds Turkey’s resilience in weathering the 2008-09 global economic crisis.

However, when it comes to the agriculture sector, a number of problems have yet to be addressed. According to the report, farmland in Turkey tends to be fragmented, with nearly a quarter comprising six or more disjointed parcels. Average parcel sizes have continued to decline in recent decades, largely due to the inheritance law. A major policy objective is to increase the average size of agricultural holdings, the report states.

“Nevertheless, those small farms are sufficiently productive to have made Turkey a significant agricultural exporter and a world leader for some agricultural products,” the report notes. For example, Turkey is the world’s largest producer of hazelnuts, apricots and cherries, and the second largest producer of figs, chestnuts, pistachios, cucumbers and watermelons. Turkey’s production of apple, chickpeas, olives and fresh vegetables are also among the top in the world. When it comes to Turkey’s main trading partners in the agriculture sector, the European Union, the United States, the Middle East and the Russian Federation top the list.

The report summarizes the principal objectives of Turkish agricultural policy as meeting the food security needs of its growing population, increasing productivity and reducing vulnerability to adverse weather conditions, raising levels of self-sufficiency, increasing farm income and improving its stability, improving competitiveness, developing rural areas, ensuring food safety and harmonizing and aligning the country’s agricultural and rural development policies and institutions with those of the EU.

The report also underlines adjustment efforts resulting from the EU accession process. For example, agro-environmental issues attained more prominence with the EU accession negotiations as the adoption of EU acquis emphasizes the integration of environmental concerns and good practices in land management and rural development in general. In the area of rural development, the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD) will also facilitate Turkey’s gradual alignment with the acquis concerning the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The report accuses Turkey of undermining the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ Agricultural Reform Implementation Project’s (ARIP) market-oriented objectives, which was adopted in 2001. The main reason for that, according to the report, is the Agriculture Law adopted in 2006 which defines support linked to production as a key instrument of agriculture policy, “thus undermining ARIP’s market-oriented objectives and moving Turkey further away from the principles of the reformed CAP.”

The report also details the areas Turkey should pay more attention to when it comes to agriculture.

“Turkey should start to examine adjustment issues related to potential EU membership (or the expansion of the Customs Union decision on agricultural products) and the further liberalization of trade through the WTO [World Trade Organization] Doha Round negotiations. Although both EU membership and WTO negotiations have stalled during the recent past, the adjustment of the agri-food sector to a new policy environment is slow. Apart from few transitory measures, a Doha Round agreement and EU membership may necessitate considerable adjustment efforts,” the OECD report says.

The report, which examines the overall characteristics of the agriculture sector in Turkey, states that despite the recent emergence of more commercial farms, the bulk of farming still consists of small-sized holdings or family farms and is highly fragmented.

The agricultural labor force, over half of which is made up of women who mainly work as unpaid family labor, experiences a high incidence of poverty and poor education. Despite a significant improvement over the last two decades, illiteracy among agricultural workers remains as high as 18 percent, compared to 7 percent for those employed outside agriculture.

The OECD report draws attention to the fact that historically, the agriculture sector has been Turkey’s largest employer and a major contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), exports and rural development. According to estimates, Turkey will become the world’s seventh-largest agricultural producer while it is an important producer and exporter of agricultural commodities to the world market.

Although its importance relative to the industrial and service sectors has been declining, agriculture still remains a key part of Turkey’s society and, as the report shows, employs about a quarter of the workforce while generating most of the income and employment in rural areas.

“Primary agriculture’s share in employment decreased from 50 percent in 1980 to 25 percent in 2009, but the contribution to the GDP is smaller — declining, over the same period, from 23 percent to 8.3 percent. Agriculture’s share in total exports remains stable at around 11 percent of total exports,” the OECD says.

29 April 2011, Friday
SOURCE: TODAYS ZAMAN