Before 1980, an import substitution policy was in place in Türkiye and agriculture was tightly controlled to meet policy objectives, which included maintaining stable grain prices, increasing yields and production and developing exports. Some agricultural products were taxed while others received subsidies, but the sector was a net payer to the government budget overall.
From the 1980s until 2000, the sector was a net beneficiary of support, directed towards import-competing farm products. The main agricultural policy instruments were price support for crop products and input subsidies. Programmes provided low-cost credit, agricultural chemicals, seeds, irrigation, and fertiliser. Livestock production was supported mainly through border measures.
State enterprises managed intervention buying, in the form of State Economic Enterprises (SEEs) as exclusive purchasers of grains, pulses, sugar, tobacco and tea; and Agricultural Sales Cooperative Unions (ASCUs) responsible for horticultural crops, cotton, oilseeds, nuts, and olive oil. Support prices were announced after planting, and farmers received payment a year or more after harvest and delivery. These bodies also maintained stocks, executed exports, issued export licenses and distributed input subsidies.
After 2000, the country embarked on a process of structural reform as a condition for receiving macroeconomic stabilisation assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. These reforms were carried out between 2001 and 2008 through the Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP). ARIP was intended to improve efficiency in the agri-food sector by removing market distortions, and to contribute to fiscal consolidation. Under ARIP, Turkish agricultural policy was oriented towards closer alignment with the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy.
Reforms after 2001 reduced the State’s role in setting prices, marketing, and trade of agri-food products. SEEs and producer co-operatives were made independent to varying degrees and at different speeds and became more exposed to market conditions. Structural adjustment in agriculture was promoted through aid to convert land to alternative production, or land consolidation, and with transition support and aid for rural development. This period also saw a shift away from output and input subsidies towards direct income support payments, although high border protection for agri-food products remained in place.
The first national Rural Development Strategy for 2007-2013 was adopted in 2006 as the basis of the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance Rural Development (IPARD-I). The IPARD II Program, covering the years 2014-20, started with the entry into force of the Financing Agreement on 8 May 2017. The latest National Rural Development Strategy for 2021-23, adopted in 2022, also covers the IPARD-III (2021-27) programming period.
Since 2010, production-linked payments were re-established for many products. Current agricultural policies also include import tariffs, fixed purchasing prices, deficiency payments (income support payments), insurance support, area-based payments and interest concessions (reductions). In addition, there is an emphasis on infrastructure, particularly for irrigation, also connected to rural development objectives.
Until the end of 2022, export subsidies applied to 14 commodity groups, out of the 19 groups eligible under Türkiye’s WTO commitments. These included processed fruit and vegetables, poultry meat and eggs. Export subsidies were granted in the form of reductions of the exporters’ debts to public corporations (for example, for taxes, and telecommunications or energy costs). Under the Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Export Competition, these export subsidies were phased out at the end of 2022.
