Erdoğan: We are launching a process of agricultural and rural development!

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the Ziraat Bank Agricultural Ecosystem Meeting, held at the Haliç Congress Center with the theme "Sustainable Agriculture and Branding in Agriculture." Delivering a speech there, President Erdoğan's statements were as follows: 

Stating that Ziraat Bank has been the locomotive of Turkish agriculture since 1863, President Erdoğan said, "Including during war periods, in the days of our country's scarcity, our bank stood by the farmer, the tradesman, the merchant, and the entrepreneur. It played a vital role in ensuring that our producers did not fall into the clutches of loan sharks and interest lobbies that exploit the marrow of our people. Just as it did yesterday, Ziraat Bank maintains its stance of prioritizing the country and the nation today. I would like to remind you once again that Ziraat Bank is not just a bank chasing profit. Beyond that, Ziraat is a friend in need that holds the hand of the farmer, the tradesman, the industrialist, the merchant, and the exporter whenever they are in need. Every economic enterprise aims to continue its work and to grow and expand its field of activity with new investments. I am now pleased to see that our Ziraat Bank is increasing its presence both within the country and abroad. With the start of Ziraat Participation's operations in 2015, our bank has also taken its place in the rapidly developing alternative finance market. A little while ago, we visited the stand area where our young and female farmers and cooperative products are located. We witnessed once again the diversity and richness of our country's agriculture here. The further we carry this treasure, the better it will be for Turkey. Of course, for this, it is important that all stakeholders in the agricultural sector join hands and act in cooperation and solidarity. Programs of this kind, which bring together all actors of the agricultural sector at the same time, also facilitate the establishment of a unity of understanding," he said.

THE SHELF LIFE HAS EXPIRED

Stating that they met with the Presidents of Chambers of Agriculture and producer unions in Ankara on May 14, World Farmers' Day, President Erdoğan expressed that they presented in great detail, in a comparative manner, where Turkey has come in agriculture over the last 21 years.

Reacting to the opposition's rhetoric on straw imports, Erdoğan said, "We have proven with figures how hollow, baseless, and unrealistic the opposition's rote-learned theses that 'agriculture is finished' in Turkey are. Our Ministers of Agriculture and Finance also confirmed this with the speeches they made a little while ago. In particular, the rhetoric of straw imports, which is put into circulation almost every year, is an insult to all stakeholders in the agricultural sector. Turkey must now leave behind the opposition that relies on distortions rather than facts. Frankly, it is seen that the shelf life of the old style of opposition has also expired. Replacing this with a critical but more constructive approach will undoubtedly be more beneficial for our country. We also desire and hope that it will be so. The truth that everyone who puts their hand on their conscience accepts is this: At the very top of the areas where our country has written a success story in the last 21 years are agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture. While saying this, of course, we cannot say that everything is perfect," he said.

WE CANNOT IGNORE VOLATILE MOVEMENTS

Expressing that Turkey, like all countries in the world, has its own difficulties, Erdoğan said, "We have problems similar to this that we need to solve, such as the increase in agricultural input prices. We cannot ignore the volatile movements experienced recently in red and white meat prices. We cannot turn a deaf ear to complaints rising in different areas, from increases in fertilizer prices to the lack of daily and permanent workers. We are aware of the areas that still produce problems alongside our successes. While doing our accounting, we hold a mirror to ourselves in a balanced and objective way. Our goal is to identify our strengths and weaknesses in the most accurate way. The situation in agriculture is no different. Here, too, we act with a solution-oriented perspective. We are concerned with increasing the number of our successes and addressing our shortcomings. We are trying to develop solutions to our problems with a common mind. Without allowing the successes our agricultural sector has achieved in 21 years to be devalued, we want to move Turkey to its goals all together by focusing on the issues our nation complains about the most. Look, I would like to say this with all my sincerity: in agriculture, which is our national issue, we have never closed our doors to anyone. We are open to everyone's ideas, contributions, criticisms, and suggestions to develop Turkey's agricultural ecosystem to the end. As long as the subject of agriculture is not sacrificed to rote learning and prejudices. As long as the sector is not treated unfairly through a product pulled out with tweezers. God willing, the rest will come easily with a little effort and labor," he stated.

ZIRAAT BANK STATEMENT

Stating that they see agriculture as a vital sector not only for the economy but also for the survival of the nation, President Erdoğan said, "Agriculture, livestock, rural development, and productivity increases in all these areas have a separate place among the fundamental elements of the 'Century of Turkey.' We have taken important steps towards strengthening the infrastructure of this in the last 21 years. We have both diversified and significantly increased agricultural supports. Our Agricultural Credit Cooperatives have always been by the side of the sector and the farmer. The amount of agricultural loans extended by our Ziraat Banks to meet the financing needs of our farmers has exceeded 480 billion liras. The number of our farmers benefiting from these loans has exceeded 1.2 million. Our goal is to make people able to feed themselves where they were born. In Anatolia, the homeland of agriculture, we are launching a new agricultural and rural development process with the principle of green development and development from the local level. We have reorganized our rural development grant programs by taking production planning into account. We have increased the project limit for grant support in the 2024 rural development investment support program from 7 million liras to 14 million liras. Our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will start announcing the 7 thousand projects and their beneficiaries, for which we will provide 5 billion liras in grant support, as of today. With these projects, a total of 13 billion liras will be invested, and we will provide employment for approximately 20 thousand of our citizens. Ziraat Bank and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives shared with the public at the beginning of the month the new agricultural loan applications that have been implemented for the first time for our farmers. Within the scope of production planning, our farmers who engage in production and contract farming will be able to benefit from additional interest/profit share discounts for the first time. Additional interest discounts will also be applied for the first time to our producers who will make investments in organized agricultural zones and to our first-degree agricultural organizations," he said.

WE ARE INCREASING SUPPORT FOR FARMERS

Stating that Ziraat Bank is also increasing its support for the sector with new good news, President Erdoğan said, "We are increasing the small equipment loan limit from 150 thousand liras to 250 thousand liras. We are also bringing the limit of the loan given to our small ruminant producers to grow their businesses, increase their animal numbers, and bring idle business capacities into production from 400 thousand liras to 600 thousand liras. We are increasing this figure from 1 million liras to 1.5 million liras for our producers engaged in bovine dairy farming. I always say that our youth are our future. We encourage young people to own businesses and jobs in the field of agriculture. The more alternative business lines we can create for the young population in our country, including agriculture, the better it will be for our economy. We are increasing the young farmer loan limit from 1.5 million liras to 2.5 million liras. We are similarly increasing the female farmer loan limit from 1.5 million liras to 2.5 million liras. I wish this good news from our Ziraat Bank to be beneficial to our farmers. As our agricultural sector develops with the contribution of these loans, hopefully, Turkey will be more prosperous, our nation will be more peaceful, and our future will be brighter and more secure," he said.