Agricultural policies in Turkey have evolved significantly over time and the new Agricultural Law agreed in 2006 aims to align Turkey’s agricultural policies with those of the European Union. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate recent policy developments in the context of a broader review of policy developments since the implementation of the Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP) in 2001.

Turkey, a middle-income country, with a growing population of approximately 73.7 million, is one of the world’s 20 largest economies. Since 2001 the country has been undergoing a significant socio-economic transformation and is being re-shaped by an economy-wide agenda of policy reform. As a result of the economic reforms, the Turkish economy experienced an average annual growth rate of more than 7% over 2002-07 - a record among OECD countries - and demonstrated remarkable resilience in weathering the 2008-09 global economic crisis.

This chapter provides a brief overview of the agricultural situation in Turkey since the mid-1980s, with particular emphasis on the nature of the structural impediments faced by the agricultural sector. It discusses trends in: the socio-economic role of agriculture in the overall economy; changes in farm structures (e.g. farm holdings, sizes, types and human capital); the value of production, input and output prices, productivity and agricultural incomes; agricultural trade (e.g. trends in agricultural exports, imports and the agricultural trade balance); and the relative economic importance and structure of the agri-food sector. As trends in agricultural policy in Turkey are closely linked to the evolution of the economy as a whole, and cannot be assessed in isolation from the macro-economic context, a brief discussion of key macro-economic aspects, such as fiscal deficits, inflation and exchange-rate changes, is also presented.

This chapter is devoted to the evolution of agricultural policies. Its main objectives are four-fold: first, it presents the main objectives of agricultural policies in Turkey, as set out in the government’s Ninth Development Plan; Agricultural Strategy 2006-10; Agricultural Law (No. 5488); and the programme for harmonisation with EU aquis (Chapter 11). Second, it discusses the institutional framework within which agricultural policy is designed and implemented. The main purpose of this section is to discuss the main actors involved in the agricultural policy-making process, such as ministries, financial institutions, State Economic Enterprises, and the Agricultural Sales Co-operatives and their Unions. Third, the evolution of various types of domestic policies is discussed. The analysis is structured in terms of the policy developments that occurred before, during and after the Agricultural Reform Implementation Project, and includes a discussion of the Agricultural Law, which was implemented in 2006. Agricultural trade policies, including regional agreements, are presented in the final part of the chapter.

This chapter discusses the role of agriculture in the rural economy, particularly in terms of agriculture’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product and employment. It analyses the evolution of rural development policies related to agriculture, with particular focus on the National Rural Development Strategy, which was adopted in 2006.

This chapter addresses the role of agriculture in the management of natural resources. A discussion of the environmental performance of agriculture, focusing on pressures on land and water, is followed by an analysis of Turkey’s agrienvironmental policies, particularly those implemented under the Environmentally- Based Agricultural Land Protection Programme (ÇATAK). The importance of organic farming is also discussed.

This chapter discusses the evolution of agricultural support in Turkey since 1986. It presents a discussion of the evolution of the level of support and the decomposition of changes in forms of support, based on the Producer Support Estimate, the Consumer Support Estimate, the General Services Support Estimate, the Total Support Estimate and related support indicators.

In this chapter Turkey’s agricultural policies are evaluated in relation to the principles and operational criteria of transparency, targeting, tailoring, flexibility and equity, which were agreed by OECD Agricultural Ministers in 1998 for the evaluation of reform efforts in OECD countries. These evaluation criteria were designed to promote an economically healthy sector that contributes to a wider economy, respects natural resources, and uses inputs effectively without recourse to production- and tradedistorting support. This chapter identifies some issues and emerging challenges for policy and concludes by providing some key policy recommendations.