Turkish farmers prepare for EU

Turkish farmers face tough reforms if they want a place in Europe

By Chris Morris in Anatolia

The European Commission is hoping to finalise an accession partnership with Turkey by the end of this year.

This would prepare Turkey for negotiations on eventual membership of the European Union.

When obstacles to Turkish integration with Europe are discussed, attention tends to focus on issues such as human rights and the need for democratic reform.

It's really hard to survive. The International Monetary Fund is making it so difficult for us

Omer Yildrim, farmer

Not many people mention agriculture. However, it is a big problem which Turkey is trying to put right.

With the harvest just around the corner, the issue is a hot topic of discussion. It has been a tough year.

Under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the government has set the price of wheat much lower than most farmers were expecting.

Livelihood under threat

The government wants to cut the number of farmers

More than 45% of Turkey's population still live and work in rural areas. However, agriculture accounts for only 15% of gross national product. Omer Yildrim, a farmer, says that something has to give.

"If the government carries on with this policy, no one round here will make any money," he says.

"It's really hard to survive. The International Monetary Fund is making it so difficult for us".

There are a few concessions to modern methods.

Still, agriculture is generally considered the most backward sector of the Turkish economy.

The government wants wide-ranging reform to bring Turkey into line with Europe.

It plans to decrease the number of farmers and remove massive subsidies which eat billions of dollars from the budget.

It also hopes to reverse a decline in productivity by persuading farmers to plant new crops which can be exported across the continent.

Reform

Professor Kasnakoglu: Turkey must invest and develop agricultural markets

Haluk Kasnakoglu, an economist, believes that the system needs more fundamental reform such as the establishment of proper labour and land markets to give famers a chance to compete on equal terms.

"The first priority should be development of tobacco," he says.

"I think its crucial. It's very dangerous to start eliminating agricultural support that exists today without improving information systems and the markets."

"If Turkey is going to move into free trade policies, the first thing it has to do is to start investing and developing these markets."

Farmers sell crops at rock-bottom prices

The ongoing debate is not much of a consolation for ordinary farmers, who sell their crops at even lower prices than those set by the government.

Private merchants are willing to pay up front, in cash, to help settle mounting debts.

For many farmers, the IMF and the EU represent not the promise of a better future but, as Muzaffer Turkoglu of the Chamber of Agricutlure, the threat of the unknown.

"Turkey is one of a handful of countries in the world which are sufficient in food," he says.

Turkey has the potential to be a European breadbasket

"But in recent years all the domestic producers have been ignored."

There has already been mass migration from the countryside to the cities, and there will be more to come.

It is a deliberate policy which many people resent.

However, there are optimists who believe that if the land is properly nourished, and properly managed, it can still support flourishing rural communities.