Ibrahim Ozcan, Vice General Manager at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock announced that Turkey exports 730 varieties of agricultural products to 186 countries. The total worth of these products is18 billion USD.
A meeting has been organized in Mugla, the southwestern city of Turkey, to discuss the issues of agricultural production.
The meeting hosted the producers and the officials from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. During his opening speech Amir Cicek, the Governor of Mugla, pointed out to Mugla's great advantages; that the city is gifted with a productive soil, a suitable climate and an ideal location for agriculture. Cicek said that farmers in Mugla can produce many high-quality products and that 18% of Mugla's territories are composed of agricultural lands.
Emphasizing that Mugla is a prominent producer of winter tomatoes, olives, pomegranate, citrus and almonds, Cicek said:
"In certain products Mugla holds the leader position in Turkey. Now Mugla positions itself as a city that produces more, creates brands and manages the marketing of its high quality products. We work towards this end. We work on important projects related to ecological agriculture and we make an effort to grow products that would meet international standards. Sharing information is the key to do this, only then we can produce a high quality product. Mugla earned 680 million Turkish Lira (112 million Euro) from the export of agricultural products. Mugla in the agriculture industry alone creates 7,5 billion lira (around 1,2 billion Euro) to Turkish economy."
"Turkey is successful in terms of agricultural yields and trade"
Ibrahim Ozcan, Vice General Manager at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock underlined that Turkey is sixth in the world in terms of agricultural yields, and first in Europe. Ozcan maintained that the country owes this success to 60 billion USD (52,4 billion Euro) worth of agricultural yields and that Turkey is the number one producer in many products.
"Turkey exports 730 varieties of agricultural products to 186 countries. In these productions the total export value is 18 billion USD (around 15,7 billion Euro). We have approximately 11,5 billion USD (around 10 billion Euro) worth of import. In terms of agricultural yields and export, Turkey is a net exporter." said Ozcan.
Ozcan added that Turkey maintains an accelerated growth rate for the last 10-15 years and that the country's agriculture sector typically grows by an average of 3% to 4% for the last 15 years.
Source: Hurriyet