Turkey to boost subsidies for embattled farmers

Turkish farmers are to receive higher subsidies this year to offset sharp cost increases, notably for fuel and fertilisers, caused by the Iran war.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party earlier this week that despite the positive outlook for many crops after recent drought-breaking rains, the country’s farmers remained under pressure.

“We have made an important decision to alleviate the burden on our farmers,” Erdoğan said.

“We are updating the amount of basic support and planning support we announced for this year, taking into account the excessive increases in input costs due to the Iran crisis. We are increasing our support amounts accordingly.”

Diesel prices in Turkey have climbed by up to 30 percent since the outbreak of the conflict. The cost of chemical fertilisers – largely imported from the Gulf – had increased by up to 26 percent by April before the government removed some import tariffs, easing pressure on growers.

Cahit İncefikir, spokesman for the Adana Agriculture Platform, a farmers’ lobby group, told AGBI he welcomed the assistance but said more needed to be done to support primary producers.

“The good news in this announcement is that they will update the fuel support. At the moment it only covers about one tenth of consumption. It should at least go up to a quarter,” İncefikir said.

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