“Turkey is a vital country for flour, feed, bulgur, and pasta, and the country exports many countries around the world. In an environment in which the global rivalry has intensified and the profit has gone down, it is an extremely important need to have a required raw material in a timely manner with desired quality and price. The certainty of future price of raw material has extreme importance for our facilities within the global competition for planning and cost calculation. In order to be ready against the international competition, we need to address our sectoral problems and solve these problems.”
Özkan Taşpınar - Turkish National Grain Council
Chairman of the Executive Board
Cereals have an important place in human nutrition, and wheat has a particular importance in cereals. Countries strive to be self-sufficient or at least not to fall under a manageable level in production of wheat, which has a vital importance. Turkey is no exception. In this issue, the country tries to come up with policies and implement these. However, the cultivation area of wheat has decreased to 7.7 million hectare, which was 9 million hectare a decade ago. Despite this, the country did not experience production decline because of reasons like the improvement of new types and developments in cultivation techniques adapting to crop alternation principles and also increase in unit area yield. However, the consumption is expected to be more than production if we consider the population increase, immigrant population, and increase in the number of tourists, donations, and people who eye on Turkey’s help for nutrition.
The cultivation area of wheat, which is a speculatively strategic product and a burning issue, and affects the country economically and socially, has reached its threshold value; if the cultivation area falls further, the problem of inadequate production together with non-desirable climate conditions will come along. This picture will create difficulty to manage wheat with its production and its trade. Along with being a food product, wheat is an important raw material for feed and other industrial usage and their shares have increased.
In order to set aside the notion of perception of wheat as the product of barren land or alternation and to make it preferable, 5 kuruş support for wheat should be increased tangible by taking into account of costs and regional with enough rainfall, watery/barren land. For example, there should be amendment of incentives in the Central Anatolia or Southeast Anatolia 25 kilogram per decare on average while in other regions, according to their yield levels.
Turkey is a vital country for flour, feed, bulgur, and pasta, and the country exports many countries around the world. In an environment in which the global rivalry has intensified and the profit has gone down, it is an extremely important need to have a required raw material in a timely manner with desired quality and price. The certainty of future price of raw material has extreme importance for our facilities within the global competition for planning and cost calculation. So far, the definition of bread wheat and pasta wheat is clear in Turkey. However, we know that this classification does not satisfy the need. In order to be ready against the international competition, we need to address our sectoral problems and solve these problems.
Turkey has five million of fallow field, much of these are in the Central Anatolia, the Eastern Anatolia, and gate away regions. The biggest obstacle before the agricultural potential is that Turkey does not use this potential. The most important reason for this is ‘water.’ For sustainable output, it is a must to transfer water from basin within certain principles.
Main problems in the sector:
Input costs are high: Since fertilizer, fuel oil, seed, and similar inputs which producers use are imported, they are subjected to fluctuations in foreign exchange and thus, the attractiveness to make production goes down.
The unhealthy structure of supply-demand balance or the production planning: The production should be carried out with consumption, export, and similar parameters; this should be stabilized with long-term planning.
Quality: Producers do not show required effort to produce quality production although they are aware of the fact that quality production brings better profit in the market. Farmers who focus on production stage, their fields, and the production of quality products earn more. In this respect, producers should focus on the quality production in order to increase their revenues.
R&D: Turkey has been in needs of making a move in order for sustainable agriculture and to take the society’s future under guarantee in terms of food safety and reliability. Turkey needs to make a move in technology, and enters into intensive research and development efforts in anticipated areas and find resources for these efforts. New technologies should be produced and used in the cereal production, and the productivity growing and business facilitator plantation, irrigation, and harvesting technologies should be generalized. Agriculture 4.0 with respect to the Industry 4.0 should be implemented. For this, it is required to have the society’s backing.
Intra-ministry coordination should be intensified to improve the rural regions: Agricultural problems are numerous and complex, and when consumption is taken into account, it deals with all society.
Agricultural Subsidies: Impact analysis should be carried out how agricultural subsidies affect and impact sectors and whether the target has been reached, and a self-renewing support model should be established and plans should be made.
Licensed Warehouse: The researches show that many manufacturers are not aware of or have misinformation about licensed warehousing activities. The Turkish Grain Board carries out advertisement through visual and written media. This promotion should be further deepened with the participation of all stakeholders to reach all producers.
Customs Taxes: We sadly witness the fact that it is portrayed the most important cause of inflation in our country is agricultural products and food. While this is not true, the reduction in customs fund is put on the agenda, and the import funds of agricultural products are reduced from time to time. The customs regulations should be calculated by taking into account of all sides; if it is required to lower the tax in case of necessity, it should be applied during the period when the product has the lowest commercial transaction and in non-harvesting period.