Turkey Ranks 30th Globally in Organic Farming
Turkey ranks 30th worldwide in organic farming. Among countries with organic production area, Turkey places 30th globally.
Experts assessing Turkey's 30th-place ranking and the country's potential in organic farming noted that global demand continues to concentrate on organic products. Recent visits to the Berlin Fair and to wholesale markets reaffirmed this. Global consumption of organic goods is rising quickly. Germany alone imports organic farm products worth more than 35 billion lira.
Experts also noted that conventional agriculture, the opposite of organic farming in which Turkey ranks 30th, relies on classical chemical fertilizers and pesticides that reduce soil fertility, seep into groundwater, and affect the ecosystem adversely. They offered the following explanations.
Organic farming, where Turkey ranks 30th, provides roughly 30% more labor demand than conventional agriculture. In 2014, organic agriculture was practiced on 45 million hectares across 172 countries, involving 2.5 million organic producers. That year, the global organic trade reached nearly 240 billion lira. Organic farming is a method that uses environmentally friendly production approaches, and does not use synthetic chemical fertilizers or pesticides that harm people and the environment.
