Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı said, “No one has any doubt that the issue of food, food supply security is now a national security issue for countries.”
Yumaklı attended the 2024 Agriculture Summit and National Product Councils Meeting organized in Mersin. Yumaklı started his speech by saying mercy from Allah Almighty to the citizens who lost their lives in the fire incident in Diyarbakır and Mardin and said, “I wish patience to their relatives. As always, our state has been with our citizens from the first moments. All our institutions were involved under the coordination of AFAD. As a ministry, we mobilized our colleagues in matters related to our field of duty and they were there from the first moment. Our state has healed the wounds and will continue to do so, God willing. Of course, it is not possible to bring back the loss of life, but the important thing is to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Because after it happens, you intervene in some way, but it is our greatest desire and wish that it does not cause any victimization. Before the Eid al-Adha, we took measures in the field for all our friends and citizens to fulfill their religious obligations, and thank God, we have passed this process without any problems.”
“I use the concept of ‘shoulder to shoulder with the sector'”
Minister Yumaklı stated that the meeting had a special meaning for them. Yumaklı said, “In all the decisions we will take as a ministry, we will definitely and definitely talk to the sectors and we will do it,” and continued as follows: “The majority of the presidents of the product councils here are already witnesses to this. Again, we will talk about the past and present of the sector, but I would like to emphasize again that the most important thing is tomorrow. Because no one has any doubt that the issue of food and food supply security is now a national security issue for countries. There is a concept called ‘protecting the sector’. I don’t accept that. I use the term ‘shoulder to shoulder with the sector’. I would like to underline this. Why is it this way? Because if those who really own the subject cannot find the organs and platforms to express their opinions about their areas of expertise or responsibility, the opinions and thoughts of people who have nothing to do with the subject unfortunately start to take place in society in a way that we do not desire at all. We always say here that real information, real comments and contributions should be made only and only by those who are really competent to speak in this sector, such as the presidents of this council. Because only in this way is it possible to ensure that the society’s right to receive accurate information and to look in the right direction regarding guidance. “
“It is possible to reach 40 percent of the world population with a 4-hour flight distance”
Stating that Turkey is located in a very strategic place due to its geographical location, Yumaklı said that Turkey is one of the countries with a rare product diversity in the world. He emphasized that Turkey is located in a region with a trade volume of 9 trillion dollars. Stating that it is possible to reach 40 percent of the world population with a 4-hour flight distance from Turkey, Yumaklı continued as follows: “We rank first in Europe in terms of agricultural area and agricultural output. We are also among the top 10 in the world. So we have a good potential. We have a good human resource. We have very valuable, very smart, very hardworking young people who give us hope and will shape our future. We have all kinds of opportunities to turn this into more production, to turn it into more exports, to realize this trade that will contribute both to the gain of our people and to the development of our country. In the last 22 years, very serious steps have been taken to reveal this potential. Supports in the last 22 years have reached 1.6 trillion liras. I would like to say that development investments are prioritized in order to produce reliable, healthy and high quality food and we have a very serious will to implement modern agricultural methods. I would like to express how important it is, especially irrigation systems where automation is intensive, considering that water is what the world will be talking about from now on, and that we want to expand irrigation systems managed by automation throughout Turkey and that we want to direct the power of state incentives in this direction. Of course, we will follow the developments in the world. We will look at what the countries that directly or indirectly affect us are doing. By revealing our own potential, we will determine our road map for the next period and this is exactly what we are doing.”
“97 kilos of every 100 kilos of seeds are produced on the soil of this country”
Minister Yumaklı said that climate change, global warming and other issues that have been discussed recently directly affect the agricultural sector as they affect every sector. Speaking about the importance of seeds, Yumaklı said, “Although we have broken a new record in crop production with approximately 139 million tons in 2023, we need to manage the process very well from the very important starting point, especially the seed, to the delivery of the product to the final point in order to take it further in the coming period. Seed is extremely important for this. We constantly emphasize this. I would like to point out that our seed production has reached 1.3 million tons and 97 kilograms of every 100 kilograms of seed used in Turkey is produced in the soil of this country at a time when the whole world accepts that our country is an authoritative country, one of the authoritative countries in seed.”
“There is a 53 percent decrease in foot-and-mouth disease compared to previous years”
Stating that they announced the road map on animal husbandry and animal production, Yumaklı continued as follows “Indeed, one of the most important titles of our livestock road map was the fight against animal diseases. Let me give an example of the effect of the fight against foot and mouth disease this year; there is a 53 percent decrease compared to previous years. In other words, when we start to get results on other diseases, we will hopefully see the point we want to reach in our road map, as I said before, in positive results. In 2023, the record of the Republic’s history was broken by producing approximately 1 million tons of aquaculture products. All these indicators; I can count many more, there are so many things we are working on, and this is why our country’s agriculture has grown in 16 of the last 21 years. The growth in the first quarter of this year is about 4.6 percent. So we are on a good path, but this will never lead us to complacency, we will keep the work tight and hopefully, both in 2024 and beyond, the people of this country, the very valuable producer of this country will continue to produce and will continue to produce products that will meet both its own population and its exports.”
“In the first 4 months, our exports increased by 10.7 percent and our imports decreased by 15.3 percent”
Underlining that Turkey is a net exporter of agricultural and food products, Yumaklı said: “In 2023, our exports of agricultural products increased by 3.3 percent compared to the previous year and reached 31 billion dollars. The foreign trade surplus increased by 3 percent to 7 billion dollars. In the January-April period of this year, our exports increased by 10.7 percent and our imports decreased by 15.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. In other words, we are both producing and exporting more, and a very serious progress has been made in producing the products we need for imports within Turkey, within the country. This country exports 2,200 types of agricultural products to 212 countries. I say it again, we should be proud of what the producers and farmers of this country produce. We really need to see where the country has come. And these should not be used as speculation material,” he said.
“We have made revolutionary changes”
Minister Yumaklı stated that they have made revolutionary changes and that they have started to see the effects of these changes. Giving examples of the regulations they made, Yumaklı continued as follows: “So what were these regulations? For example, we made a new arrangement for those who, for various reasons, did not register in the farmer registration system and did not have the opportunity to benefit from the incentives of the state in order to take their production further. The farmer registration system was around 64-65 percent, and we are still continuing to increase the number of registrations in just this one year; it has reached 70 percent. In other words, we want our agricultural production, which we always say, to be sustainable, efficient, of high quality, registered and invested in the sector. We have made a very serious regulation on registration, which is the most important of these five pillars. The impact of this has started to be seen. On this occasion, I would like to take this opportunity to ask those who are here, especially those who are here, to register in the farmer registration system, considering that there may be those who are not yet aware of the issue.”
“Unprocessed agricultural lands will be brought into production”
Pointing out that another regulation is ‘bringing unprocessed agricultural lands into production’, Yumaklı said, “We have a lot of land, why don’t we process them? We have also made this regulation in order to eliminate these justifications. We are saying to those who have not cultivated their land for two years; you own the land, we do not interfere with that, but you have to cultivate it and bring it into Turkey’s economy, if you do not do this, we, as the state, take this saving there. We deposit the rent to be obtained from here into your account, the ownership is yours. But this place has to be brought into Turkey’s economy. No one in Turkey will be able to say, “I own this area, this land, I can do whatever I want.
“We will start implementing production planning”
Emphasizing that the main issue is production planning, Yumaklı said: “The issue that we have been saying why this is not happening will now happen. Starting from October this year, from the beginning of agricultural production, we will start implementing production planning in the last quarter of this year. Because in animal production, our product councils, our groups in the provinces have worked, finished this process and we have now put that planning cycle into effect in the animal process. Since crop production is a bit more complex and complicated, we had to go through a very long period of training, information and consultation. That’s why we couldn’t start at the beginning of this year. That wasn’t our schedule anyway. Our calendar is going on in the same way, and hopefully we have redesigned both our production planning and the agricultural production supports that will support them. The one on animal production is currently at the stage of being published in the Official Gazette, and the ones on plant production have very little technical work period left. After that, we will hopefully publish them as well. All of these will hopefully be based on the 5 main pillars we have mentioned.”
“Our total number of inspections in 2023 is 1.3 million”
Minister Yumaklı said that another heading is ‘the responsibility of ensuring citizens’ right to access reliable, healthy and quality food’. Noting that they continue to make new regulations for this purpose, Yumaklı said, “We have a very strong infrastructure in all 81 provinces. We have 41 public and 107 private laboratories, which are world-class laboratories. We have 15 R&D centers. 7 thousand 617 of our colleagues continue inspections in the field. With this strong infrastructure, our total number of inspections in 2023 is 1.3 million. The only thing we cannot tolerate is that none of our citizens have a problem in accessing safe food. We cannot tolerate this. We have made a series of regulations ranging from misleading visuals on food labels to the banning of some food additives, and we are still continuing. Especially our colleagues working on this issue have worked very hard,” he said.
With the QR code system, it will be possible to see when the companies were last inspected
Stating that they made an announcement accordingly, Yumaklı said that they introduced a QR code system for citizens to access the results obtained. Stating that this QR code system will be used in the ministry’s mobile application called ‘Agriculture in My Pocket’, Yumaklı said, “We have an ‘Agriculture in My Pocket’ mobile application. There is an option there. With this option, when you go to any food sales point, it can be a market, it can be a restaurant. When you scan that barcode there, you will see when it was last inspected. Work on the second step of this is also underway. You will also see the results of this audit. This process is already underway. Therefore, from here, we especially ask and expect all businesses to be included in this system that they are actually presenting themselves with reliable food at this point. If at a certain stage from now on, if there is no barcode at any point of sale or service point you go to, you may have a question mark in your mind. Because we want the voluntary participation of institutions, firms and companies.”
Studies on safe food will be visible on a single platform
Speaking about another innovation they have made, Yumaklı noted that citizens will be able to see all the work they have done for safe food on a single platform through the address ‘guvenilirgida.tarimorman.gov.tr’. Minister Yumaklı said, “Of course, we are a ministry that receives very intense and important support from our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has always stated that the way to a strong Turkey is through strong agriculture. In this regard, he has an aspect that we are really grateful to him both in terms of his knowledge and support for us. From here, I would like to express my gratitude to our President.”
Ali Hamza Pehlivan, Governor of Mersin, said that Mersin is one of the provinces that has made the most important contribution to Turkey being recognized as an agricultural country and being at the forefront in the world and Europe. Stating that more than 100 agricultural products are grown in Mersin, Pehlivan said, “Livestock breeding, beekeeping and beekeeping are also practiced, and there is definitely an activity in our province with all the titles related to agriculture and animal husbandry that can be imagined. Mersin ranks in the top 10 in 50 products, in the top 3 in 30 products and in the first place in 10 products. In total, it contributes over 88 billion liras to our gross product, 76 billion of which is in crop production and 12 billion in animal production.” Emphasizing that Mersin is very dynamic in agriculture, Pehlivan noted that a harmonious and coordinated work is being carried out in order to bring the agricultural sector to better points.
Pointing out that agriculture is a very strategic, very important and vital sector, Pehlivan said, “However, it is absolutely necessary for all stakeholders to focus on the issue with the same sensitivity and to make evaluations, determinations and take steps to ensure its sustainability. We endeavor to make agriculture the subject of each of us in our province to the extent of our share.”
Pehlivan explained the work they have done and the projects they have carried out throughout the province.
Mersin Commodity Exchange President Abdullah Özdemir also made a speech at the event, and plaques were given to producers who were successful in agriculture.
