Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The meeting, hosted by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, was also attended by Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirişci and FAO Türkiye Representative Viorel Gutu. In his speech at the opening of the meeting, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the value of agriculture is better understood every day all over the world. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the correct management of risks has become much more important and critical in terms of carrying the sector to the future, “Our farmers face numerous risks, such as production, financing, marketing, climate change and natural disasters. It is necessary to help them against all this, to ensure that they are prepared and to reduce the possible damages that may arise. At this point, we are very pleased to work with FAO, which has become the specialized institution of the United Nations with its history of 80 years and mediates and assists in agricultural development projects, especially in developing countries, on such a project. We see that FAO's sharing of knowledge and experience is very valuable and beneficial.”

- “We cannot neglect agriculture and animal husbandry”

Stating that they started the project at the beginning of 2022, Hisarcıklıoğlu gave the following information: “We conducted on-site interviews with nearly a thousand of our producers in 6 provinces - Ankara, Edirne, Eskişehir, İzmir, Konya and Şanlıurfa. We received their troubles, opinions and demands. We evaluated the findings obtained from all these efforts at the workshop we organized in Eskişehir 2 weeks ago with the participation of our Ministry of Agriculture, academicians and sectoral experts. We will discuss these in the 2^nd stage of our meeting. Our Minister of Agriculture, together with his team, is with us today and honored our meeting. Prof. Dr. Vahit Kirişci Minister established a very constructive dialogue with our sector with his working style that emphasizes consultation. He has already supported our producers and private sector under the chairmanship of the parliamentary commission. We thank him for this beautiful vision. First with the pandemic and then with the Russian-Ukrainian war, we see that these sectors have become strategic areas. We think that our country also has a strong potential. We are the first in Europe in agricultural product and we are the 10^th country in the world. Thanks to the 25 billion dollars of exports we have obtained from here, we earn net foreign exchange income and give foreign trade surplus. On the other hand, we see agriculture and animal husbandry as a sector that we should never neglect in terms of our future. Because the world population is increasing every year.

Every year, the global population increases by as much as the population of Türkiye. The middle class in the world is constantly growing. The middle class consumes more, spends more. Almost 2 Türkiye’s join the middle class every year. 2 billion people live next to us, in our surrounding region. It imports $500 billion worth of food, agriculture and livestock products. So we have a great opportunity at our disposal. We can feed this whole geography. Thus, we gain both money and strategic power. Because he who feeds the world is the leading country of the world. For these reasons, we cannot neglect agriculture.”

- Actions in the field of agriculture

Emphasizing the need to plan the sector on how it should be transformed in accordance with the spirit of the time and the conditions of the day, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Because we are also aware that we are behind our potential in agriculture and animal husbandry. Recently, we have taken important steps to develop this market. First, we ensured that the licensed warehouse system was put into practice. Together with TMO, we established the Lidaş licensed warehouse company. Subsequently, our private sector started to invest in this area.

The number of licensed warehouses throughout the country has reached 300 and the warehouse capacity has reached 9 million tons. The electronic product bill (ELÜS) received in exchange for the product placed here became collateral in accessing the financing. Our state has also made a great contribution to the development of licensed warehousing with investment, rent, logistics and analysis supports. After the licensed warehouses, we realized our 50-year-old dream, the establishment of the commodity exchange, that is, the Product Specialized Exchange. Our Commodity Exchanges, by displaying a beautiful vision, became the founding partners of TMO-Lidas and ensured the opening of many licensed warehouses in Anatolia. In addition, most of the 25 Authorized Classifier Laboratories in Türkiye today have been put into operation by our Commodity Exchanges. To summarize, we see the importance of the agriculture and livestock sector and our potential here.”

Stating that Türkiye has 3 strategic advantages that are found in very few countries in the world, the TOBB President said: “First, we have a different climate and production structure. Second, we are an enterprising nation that can produce and export what it produces. Thirdly, we are a country that has established such a developed food industry that can import and process raw materials and export in such a way that the added value remains in the country. On the other hand, the production process in agriculture and animal husbandry is long. Therefore, cash return takes time, the need for finance and financial risk increases. There are many risks and uncertainties that cannot be controlled during production. This leads to a risk of continuity in income. The supply of products is short-term and the demand is long-term. Financial mechanisms are needed to manage the time between the start of expenses and the return of cash. These and similar risks, the problems experienced in the field and the solution proposals are put forward in our study. In fact, we have significant experience in taking steps against risks. TARSİM, which is considered one of the world's most successful pool models in the field of compulsory earthquake insurance DASK and agricultural insurances, are good examples of what we can achieve. I believe that under the leadership of our Minister of Agriculture and with the support of our Ministry, we will make our producers more knowledgeable and cautious about the risks.”

- Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Vahit Kirişci

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Vahit Kirişci stated in his speech that they have increased the raw milk support premium per liter to 50 cents for the October, November and December periods, and said, “(With the figure announced by the National Milk Council), our producers will receive at least 9 liras per liter with the raw milk support premium to be paid by our Ministry.”

In his speech here, Kirişci pointed out that they support farmers and producers in the field of crop and animal production. Reminding that the National Milk Council met today, Kirişci said that the Council has set the recommended price of raw cow's milk with 3.6 percent fat and 3.2 percent protein content, effective from October 14, as 8.5 liras net in the hands of the producer, excluding the raw milk support premium.

Kirişci stated that the Ministry increased the raw milk support premium, which is planned to be paid 20 centimes per liter for the October, November and December period of milk producers as in the period of May 15-September 30, to 50 cents by increasing it by 2.5 times, “Thus, our producers will receive at least 9 liras per liter together with the raw milk support premium to be paid by our Ministry. Good luck. We will continue to stand by our producers and support our farmers with all our strength.”

- Grain corridor

Kirişci said that with the right policy put forward by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Russian-Ukrainian War, Türkiye has become a mediator country.

Underlining that their first task in this regard was the commissioning of the grain corridor, Kirişci stated that approximately 7 million tons of grain was provided to pass through the corridor and that around 310 ships passed through here.

Pointing out that the psychological impact of this step was greater than the physical impact, Kirişci said, “There was a relief at a time when the world was talking about the food crisis. This is also reflected in the prices.”

- Innovations in agriculture

Pointing out the importance of legislation, Kirişci explained the work done in areas such as the Agricultural Law, licensed warehousing and agricultural insurances.

Kirişci stated that 20 million policies were taken in agricultural insurance in 16 years and that they provided 12.8 billion liras of public support.

In addition to these, Kirişci emphasized that they announced the intervention prices in products such as wheat, barley, hazelnut, tea and grapes on the spot, so that they helped the people of Anatolia to evaluate their products in the way they deserved and that they would continue to do so.

Pointing out that they are also carrying out studies to facilitate the life and comfort of the producers, Kirişci said that producers can now register to the Farmer Registration System through e-Government, and when they activate the “Tarım Cepte” application, producers can do other work and transactions from here.