Türkiye to launch new system to address ‘water stress’

ANKARA

The government is establishing a “Water Efficiency Management System” to address water stress Türkiye is facing, Agriculture Minister İbrahim Yumaklı has said.

A regulation on water efficiency has been prepared, Yumaklı told lawmakers at parliament’s planning and budget commission, adding that protocols have been signed with relevant institutions and organizations for their areas of responsibility.

"We have close cooperation with representatives of the tourism and industry sectors. 47 municipalities are involved in the 'Municipal Water Brotherhood,'" he said.

A country is considered facing water stress if the annual amount of usable water per capita is 1,700 cubic meters and this is 1,313 cubic meters for Türkiye, the minister said. “This shows our country is under water stress.”

The Water Efficiency Management System is designed to address the impacts of climate change and drought and covers all the sectors in Türkiye, according to Yumaklı.

The rate of use of modern irrigation systems in the cultivated areas rose from 6 percent to 35 percent, he stated, adding that they will increase this rate to 45 percent by 2028.

Yumaklı pointed out that with artificial intelligence-supported irrigation automation, they reduced water consumption while increasing agricultural yields.

“In 2025, we will complete and put into service a total of 307 facilities, including 41 dams, six hydroelectric power plants, 70 irrigation facilities, 15 drinking water facilities, 162 flood control facilities and two wastewater facilities,” he said.

Organized Agricultural Zones have been established to ensure that consumers can access agricultural products at affordable prices by reducing logistics costs, according to the minister.

They aim to put 61 Organized Agricultural Zones into operation in 42 provinces by the end of 2028, Yumaklı added.

In order to protect, develop and manage water and soil resources, increase agricultural productivity and contribute to energy production, a total of 10,657 facilities have been established and some 2.4 trillion Turkish Liras have been invested in the last 22 years, he said.

Over the said period, Türkiye’s storage volume rose from 133.1 billion cubic meters to 183.4 billion cubic meters, while irrigated land increased from 47.9 million decares to 72 million decares, and the amount of drinking water provided annually from 2 billion cubic meters to 5.4 billion cubic meters, according to the minister.

The Agriculture Ministry plans a total of 178 billion liras of investment and the agricultural support to be provided to farmers will be hiked to 135 billion liras next year, Yumaklı said.