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Support to Turkish farmers through policy and finance was the focus of a workshop held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Turkey in Ankara on 27 November 2014.

The event brought together representatives of the Turkish government, EBRD, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), international financial institutions and Turkish banks as well as agribusiness associations.

Participants discussed Turkish farmers’ access to finance, programmes and instruments designed to support agricultural producers and the impact and effectiveness of government policies on primary agriculture.

Nuno Santos, Economist from the FAO Investment Centre, presented FAO and EBRD experiences in promoting public-private dialogue for improved agricultural policies and emphasized that “public-private policy dialogue remains critical in investment promotion and development of efficient food chains.”

Aysegul Akin, Assistant FAO Representative in Turkey, gave an overview of the present situation for family farming in Turkey and the world overall. She also highlighted the importance of family farming in the country’s agricultural sector and the key challenges such enterprises are facing today.

Representatives of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, FAO and the leading agriculture lenders Rabobank (Netherlands), Rentenbank (Germany) and BGZ (Poland) shared best international practices and successful examples of innovative financial instruments for the sector.

Opening the conference, EBRD Director for Agribusiness, Gilles Mettetal said: “Agriculture is of key importance to Turkey in social and economic terms. But when it comes to access to finance, small producers’ financial needs are not fully met, which is holding agricultural development back. We are encouraged by the government’s and commercial banks’ commitment to facilitating access to finance and delivering more effective policies.”

EBRD is a leading investor in Turkey providing finance to farmers through local intermediaries and directly. To date, the Bank has provided over EUR 400 million in credit lines to Turkish lenders to secure long-term funding to micro and small enterprises in the agribusiness sector and invested over EUR 300 million directly in agribusiness companies to help them grow and become more competitive.

In addition to financing, EBRD is also active, together with FAO, in policy dialogue and strengthening the role of the private sector. The workshop provided an opportunity to deepen and expand this engagement. Around 10 percent of EBRD's annual investments are dedicated to the agribusiness sector in its countries of operations.

The Bank started investing in Turkey in 2009 and currently operates from offices in Istanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep. To date, EBRD has invested over EUR 4 billion in the country across 126 projects in infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, industry and finance. In just five years, EBRD’s portfolio in Turkey has become one of the largest among the countries where the Bank works.