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TURKIYE AGRICULTURE
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Over the last three decades, Turkey’s
population has been migrating not only to urban areas but also to other
countries. 1950, the rural population represented 75% of the total; four decades
later, it has dropped to 40%. In 1980s, urbanisation grew at an annual rate of
6%. Rural-urban migration is largely an inevitable consequence of
industrialisation.
Resources and Environment There are economic disparities between rural and urban
areas. However, the government is strengthening infrastructure, communications,
and the agriculture resource base and expanding employment opportunities by
upgrading local enterprises and attracting new industries. The focus of the
policy is the development of the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP).
Irrigation is a means of reducing weather-induced production variations.
Therefore, Turkey is giving high priority to improving land and water resources
and expanding irrigation. It has designated about two-thirds of total public
agricultural investment for land and water improvement. Environmental
degradation and resource conservation are of increasing concern to the Turkish
agricultural sector. Intensifying production, especially by using chemical
fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation, puts further emphasis on the
environment.
Vegetal Products Vegetal production is the leading subsector of Turkish
agriculture and it is mainly made up of fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals,
pulses, industrial plants, and fodder crops. In the vegetal production, the
fresh fruits and vegetables constitute the backbone of the sector due to the
availability of diverse ecological conditions of Turkey enabling to grow all
temperate, most subtropical and some tropical products. The remarkable thing
with the Turkish fresh fruits and vegetables industry is not only the great
diversification in the number of fruits and vegetables grown but also the
astonishing quantity of the total produce, approximately 13 million tons of
fruits and 29 million tons of vegetables. The fresh fruits grown in Turkey
mainly consist of grape-like fruits, pome fruits, stone fruits and citrus fruits
according to the order of priority.
Grape-like fruits led the list with a share of 29%. Fruit bearing vegetables
constitute 45% of the total vegetable production. Among these vegetables,
tomatoes take the first place with an output of 8.5 million tons and potatoes,
watermelons, melons, onions and cucumbers follow this juicy vegetable. Turkey
has a major role among the important producing countries of pulses in the world.
Over 70 countries have imported Turkish pulses in 2003.
Cereals are also of great importance in Turkish agriculture. Wheat, barley, rye,
oats, rice, spelt, maize, canary grass and millet are the main species of
cereals produced in Turkey. Wheat is the major grain produced in Turkey.
Although its output stagnated in the early 1980s, it has recently expanded
because of increased fertiliser and irrigation use. Turkey is the main producer
of oriental type tobacco in the world. Among the main industrial crops produced
in Turkey, tobacco is a traditional agricultural export item of the country.
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