Turkey

Title: Enhancing Organic Farming in Turkey

Objective:

The main objective is to develop a highly competitive agricultural sector that provides balanced and sufficient nutrition, protects social and environmental concerns and considers food safety as the most important issue. Importance shall be accorded to enhancing productivity by ensuring the utilization of high quality seed and seedlings, training farmers, strengthening producers’ organizations, supporting research and development activities, increasing competitiveness of agricultural holdings and improving the marketing framework. The project will contribute to the development of environment-friendly agricultural production in Turkey by analyzing its market potential and requirements for a number organic crop and livestock products and will propose recommendations for product development, marketing, and organization. To do this, the main supply channels and the regulations governing production and distribution were analyzed and the demand for organic and special-quality products was evaluated with reference both to domestic and international markets. The major outcomes include:

• To increase market efficiency and diversify rural household incomes and economic opportunities by facilitating their access to the supply chains for selected high-value organic products.
• To develop capacities in post-harvest handling, marketing and trade to enhance competitiveness.