Gov’t prepares roadmap for livestock farming

ANTALYA

A roadmap for livestock farming in Türkiye that will be implemented until 2028 has been prepared and will soon be made public, Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı has said.

“We are preparing this roadmap, which will protect our producers and our consumers, with the input of the sector,” Yumaklı said on the opening day of the National Dairy Workshop in Antalya.

“Together we will create a registered, high quality, efficient and sustainable livestock sector,” he added.

“We have recently put some of these principles into practice, but they are now complete. In this time of increasing demand for food, we need to review our policies from production to marketing.”

Yumaklı stated that they are paying special attention to improving the quality and hygiene of raw milk as part of the efforts to increase yield and quality.

“Our action plan aims to maintain the sustainability of milk production, ensure market stability, empower our producers and harmonize raw milk with European Union criteria, the minister added.

He also said that the government is trying to increase the competitiveness of the livestock sector.

"We have provided 312 billion Turkish Liras of support to the livestock sector in the past 21 years, and we will provide 19.1 billion liras in 2024,” he added.

According to Yumaklı, it is not enough to produce something, one also needs to market it to reach the right consumer.

“Agricultural organizations should do this,” he added.

“Unfortunately, our agricultural organizations are inadequate and are not up to the task. We want to use the support mechanisms to improve them. As the structure here becomes stronger, Türkiye's own needs will be met and we want to increase our exports of branded products.”

The minister highlighted that branding is also very important in the dairy sector, which is another field in which Türkiye lags behind.

“Türkiye can produce more than 200 types of cheese, we have very good cheese producers and milk producers,” Yumaklı said.

“But we are blocked in terms of branding. It cannot be done in the old way. If we can create a brand and market the products we produce well, both our producers and industrialists will win. We have more potential than countries that are famous for cheese.”

Speaking at the same event, National Dairy Council Chair Abdülhamit Can said that the dairy sector is one of the locomotives of agriculture.

“Our goal at the workshop is for all sector representatives to freely share and then evaluate their proposed solutions,” he added.

“We believe that there will be guiding studies for our sector for each stage of milk, from sustainable production to processing, from marketing to consumption.”