Stating that Turkey became the leading country in agricultural production not only in Europe but also in the whole world since 2005, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "We have made a support payment of 134.5 billion liras for our farmers in the last 17 years. We have supported livestock sector with 33 billion liras in the last 17 years."
Speaking at the opening of the AK Party's 29th Consultation and Evaluation Meeting held in Kızılcahamam Eliz Hotel, President Erdoğan pointed out the fact that who controlled the food in the future would also control the world became clearer day by day.
"Only 5 billion hectares of the 13 billion hectares of land in the world is agricultural land, and only 1.5 billion hectares of this land is being cultivated. However, in our country, 24 million hectares of land is being cultivated and 14.6 million hectares of land is used as pasture area. In 2050, the world's population is expected to exceed 10 billion and the population of our country to exceed 100 million. The increase in urbanization, global warming, misuse of soil, desertification and erosion have been threatening arable lands, and for this reason, we have taken 265 plains corresponding to 7 million hectares in our 65 provinces which are of high production potential under protection by declaring them agricultural protected areas," said President Erdoğan.
"WE HAVE INCREASED OUR AGRICULTURAL INCOME FROM 37 BILLION LIRAS TO 217 BILLION LIRAS"
Underlining that Turkey became the leading country in agricultural production not only in Europe but also in the whole world since 2005, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "We have increased our agricultural income from 37 billion liras to 217 billion liras. We have also increased our exports of agricultural products and food products from 4 billion dollars to 17.7 billion dollars. Today, Turkey is exporting 1,690 varieties of agricultural products to 195 countries.
President Erdoğan stated that they had increased their agricultural support payments from 1.8 billion liras to 17 billion liras as of that year and made the following evaluations:
"The number of cattle has increased from 9.9 million to 18.2 million, and the number of sheep and goats from 32 million to 49.8 million."
"Red meat production has increased from 421 thousand tons to 1.1 million tons, white meat production increased from 696 thousand tons to 2.2 million tons, milk production has increased from 8.4 million tons to 22.1 million tons."
"I have given you all the official figures here," President Erdoğan said.
"WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WITH THE PRODUCER AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO BE"
Reminding that the Dairy Council had increased the reference price of one liter of milk to 2,3 liras, President Erdoğan said that they had always been with the producer and would continue to be.
President Erdoğan stated that the prices of 13 crops including hazelnuts, cereals and legumes was announced before the harvest in 2019, and an efficient purchasing campaign was conducted.
Expressing that 4 billion liras of products were bought from the producers via Turkish Grain Board to prevent the market prices from falling against the producers, President Erdoğan said that 206 billion liras of investment was made for the irrigation infrastructure operations conducted to increase the fertility of the soil and 7,927 facilities were opened.
"WE ARE ONE OF RARE COUNTRIES INCREASING FOREST ASSETS"
Stating that the construction of 4,856 facilities were completed for the purpose of flood protection, about 305,000 hectares of land, and 4,774 settlements were secured, President Erdoğan also referred to the works to reduce the amount of soil transported by erosion to the seas, lakes, and dams.
Noting that Turkey was one of the rare countries that increase the forest assets, President Erdoğan said that the forest area of about 21 million hectares was increased to 22.7 million hectares, the early warning system was established to respond quickly to fires, the amount of burning areas were reduced to a quarter of the average of the previous years. The President also added that it was planned to plant 11 million saplings in 81 provinces.