Reforms boost agricultural production of Turkey

Speaking to the Aksam daily on the Turkish agriculture sector, Food, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Mehdi Eker said that agriculture in Turkey has recovered with the implementation of radical reforms, while it failed to meet even the domestic demand in early 2000’s. Eker said that Turkey’s agricultural exports hit $16 billion in 10 years with a four-fold increase and added that the sector grew with coherent policies despite the global crisis and draughts. "Today, Turkey meets demands by a population of 76 million and 32 million tourists and exports 1,663 types of products to 188 countries. Employing 6 million people today, agricultural sector is the shining star of our economy," Eker said, adding that Turkey was listed as the 7th largest agricultural producer in the world in the 2013 OECD Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Report.