Türkiye prevented global food crisis through grain deal: Erdoğan
ISTANBUL
While the disruption in grain shipments to world markets due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis led to a worldwide threat of famine, Türkiye’s diplomatic efforts helped prevent the problem, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 6.
“We have averted a grave crisis for humanity by ensuring the beginning of grain shipments through the multipronged diplomacy we conducted as Türkiye,” he said, addressing the Ziraat Bank Agricultural Ecosystem meeting.
This situation has shown the importance of Türkiye’s own agricultural production capacity, he said. “It has been understood once again how felicitous the support we gave to our farmers, the conveniences we provided, and the arrangements we made since the time we have been ruling.”
The meeting of Ziraat Bank Agricultural Ecosystem is another manifestation of the same effort, he said.
“We regard the agricultural sector with all its relevant areas, and its primary element, our farmers, to be a whole,” the president stated.
“We are developing our policies and practices by taking into consideration all the elements of this great ecosystem,” Erdoğan said, noting that a disruption in a single link of the chain would affect the whole system.
“Therefore, we are taking steps that would develop the system as a whole without ignoring any link of the process that stretches from the farmers to the consumers,” Erdoğan said.
“Our Ziraat Bank’s services toward the agricultural sector are similarly wide in their range. While we are strengthening the agricultural sector with new arrangements, supports and incentives, we are addressing the whole system,” he added.
The industrial revolution and the following technological revolution made people’s daily lives much easier, however, the earth maintains its value as a fundamental source of life, Erdoğan said.
“We work to protect our lands with all the values that grow under or over them, particularly grains, fruits, vegetables and animals, and to support our farmers who cultivate them,” he stated.
In a period when Türkiye’s population reached 85 million and the world population 8 billion, if one ignores the lands and the farmers who cultivate them, they would be ignoring the future, the president emphasized.
The president also announced several loan packages for farmers. While the amount of loans for farmers has been increased, the interest has been kept low.
The farmer support loan will provide to meet all their expenses until the harvest period. Farmers will be able to meet the expenditures in the period when they cannot earn income. The interest rate to be paid 250,000 Turkish Liras per person will be 9.75 percent annually, with a maturity of up to 36 months.
“We want the added value of the final goods to remain with our producers, thanks to the loan that we will support the small and medium-sized enterprises that process agricultural products. The upper limit of our loan is 15 million liras, and the annual interest rate is 4.75 percent, excluding the part paid by the state,” he stated.
The third title is an agricultural debt transfer loan, he said. “With this loan, we aim to relieve our farmers, who have used high-interest loans from other banks, from this burden, with the favorable conditions we will provide at our Ziraat Bank,” he stated.