New policies aim at boosting local livestock production

ANKARA

The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry is designing a new livestock system in a bid to reduce imports, putting small family businesses at the center of its plans to boost local production.

Incentives, which are expected to increase production in cattle farming, are also being considered for sheep and goat farming, according to daily Milliyet.

The 2024 livestock production statistics from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed that the number of cattle increased by 2.4 percent compared to the previous year, reaching around 17 million. Similarly, the number of sheep and goats rose by 4.8 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 54.9 million.

While these figures suggest progress in livestock breeding, the increase in live animal and carcass meat imports in recent years continued.

Intensive efforts are being made to develop new models that will prevent imports starting from 2025, according to the daily.

Speaking at parliament during recent discussions on his ministry’s budget, Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı emphasized that they are focused on increasing livestock numbers and “eliminate” imports.

“By the end of the three-year planning period, we aim to increase the number of cattle from 16.6 million to 17.7 million and the number of sheep and goats from 52.4 million to 61.1 million,” he said.

According to the 2025 Presidential Annual Program, support for livestock breeding is expected to reach 19.74 billion Turkish Liras this year and rise by another 37.5 percent to 27.15 billion liras next year.

As part of these efforts, support for livestock breeding and family businesses will increase.

One of the significant factors threatening livestock numbers has been the challenges faced by milk producers in recent years.

Since 2018, unresolved issues of low demand and low prices have led producers to send female animals to slaughter, creating problems in increasing livestock numbers to desired levels.

The new support model the Agriculture Ministry is developing is also expected to boost the population in rural areas.

The population in rural areas is both declining and aging in Türkiye, creating risks to the country’s agricultural production.

Recent data from TÜİK showed that the number of people living in towns and villages fell by more than 315,000 in 2024 from the previous year to 5.66 million.