Turkey aims to be top agriculture producer in Europe: Erdoğan

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Hürriyet Photo

Turkey wants to more than double its national agricultural revenue by 2023, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, claiming that the country is now the top agricultural producer in Europe. 

“Turkey is now Europe’s biggest agricultural producer, ahead of France, Italy and Spain,” Erdoğan said, speaking at an April 29 event in Ankara. 

“Our national agricultural revenue reached $61 billion in 2014. We aim to increase it to $150 billion by 2023,” he added. “We want to increase our agricultural exports to $40 billion by 2023,” Erdoğan also vowed. 

Export of agricultural products earned $18.7 billion for Turkey in 2014, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

Turkey currently ranks seventh in Europe in terms of added-value in its exports of agriculture, food and livestock, according to Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker.

The Central Bank blamed food prices for a recent rise in inflation on April 27, warning that more measures were needed to improve food supply. However, Eker ruled out any problems in output, claiming that the hike in vegetable and fruit prices was linked to “election speculation.”