BY TALIP AKTAS
Turkey, which is the 10th largest agricultural producer in the world, ranks fourth in terms of the highest food inflation after Zimbabwe, Lebanon, and Venezuela, according to the FAO’s (the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) Food Price Index. The share of agriculture in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased from 10.2% to 5.6% in Turkey in the last 20 years, according to the World Bank. Turkey’s agricultural value-added fell by 34% in USD at current prices. Turkey’s agricultural GDP declined from USD 68.6bn in 2011 to USD 46bn in 2021. Turkey’s arable land area was down from 31% to 25% and its cultivated grain area declined from 13.6 million hectares to 11.1 million hectares from 2000-2021. Agricultural employment, which was down by 35% in the last 20 years, fell from 7.5 million people in 2002 to 4.9 million people in 2021. While Turkey’s population increased by 20 million people, agricultural employment decreased by 2.6 million people. Dependence on foreign agricultural inputs and inflation caused by the monetary policy is one factor. The manufacturing and services industries also grew faster than the agricultural sector. However, Turkey’s de facto disengagement from agriculture hasn’t create.
