Food companies set their eyes on uncultivated farmlands

ISTANBUL

Food companies, especially food exporting firms, are hoping that they can benefit from a recent regulation that paves the way for the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry to lease out agricultural lands that are not cultivated for two consecutive years.

According to the regulation published in the Official Gazette last week, it will be obligatory for the lessee to engage in agricultural cultivation on the leased land.

Representatives of the food industry have welcomed the latest move, which government officials say is aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity.

Commissions set up by the ministry will identify the lands to be leased out.

They had convened their demands for leasing lands to the ministry long ago, said Melisa Tokgöz Mutlu, chair of the Agriculture Board at the Türkiye Exporters’ Assembly (TİM).

The industry across the globe has been discussing ways to increase agricultural production after the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

She noted that farmers usually cultivate produce that is high in demand, which however may distort the demand-supply balance and harm agriculture.

“That’s why leasing out farmlands is very crucial,” Mutlu added.

It is important that food companies lease such lands especially for the contract farming products, she said.

“This should be a win-win game both for those leasing out their land and the lessee. This price must be just right.”

Some food companies have already working on identifying the land they might lease, according to Mutlu.

“We welcome this leasing scheme,” said Kazım Taycı, president of İstanbul Cereals Pulses Oil Seeds and Products Exporters’ Association (İHBİR).

“But production costs of farmers must be taken into account. The leasing price should be right for food exporting companies,” he said.

However, some raised doubts as to how effectively the leasing model could work or whether it could be implemented in a successful way.

There is no land available that could be leased out in the Çukurova and the Aegean regions or Antalya, said Mutlu Doğru, the president of the Adana Farmers’ Union.

This scheme may work in Central Anatolia where there are infertile lands, Doğru said.

The system looks good on paper, but it is another matter of how it is implemented, according to Emrah Ince, the founder of the New Farmer Platform.

“If a land is not cultivated, maybe because it is not fertile enough. All these need to be looked into. Moreover, the ministry should have enough personnel out there to make sure that the system works,” he said.

Hüseyin Demirtaş, president of the Agriculturists’ Association, claims that the leasing scheme would not benefit small farmers.

“Only companies, which engage in industrial farming, could afford leasing lands and growers may turn into a worker on their own land,” he said.