Evaluation of the past and future agricultural policies in Turkey: Are they capable to achieve sustainability?
2003
Cakmak, E.H. (Middle East Technical University, Ankara (Turkey). Department of Economics)
During the last decade policy makers in Turkey preferred to support the agriculture by distorting prices. More than 70 percent of transfers to the sector have been achieved through output and input price interventions. The primary cost of budgetary transfers per year remained around 1 percent of GNP, but the fiscal burden increased to unsustainable levels. Agricultural policy reform is expected to play a key role in the recently launched stabilization program of Turkey. The ongoing policy measures are effectively open-ended, benefiting rich farmers more than poor ones. Low-income classes bear the burden of transfers through price interventions. Furthermore, worldwide tendency towards more decoupled support to agriculture makes it compulsory a radical change of agricultural policies for preserving, at least, competitiveness in the world markets. Tightly constrained by agricultural policies for preserving, at least, competitiveness in the world markets. Tightly constrained by international, and especially by domestic factors, the agricultural policies in Turkey should shift from "distributive" transfer oriented policies towards "productive" policies to sustain competitiveness in the world markets. Recent agricultural reforms are far from achieving sustainable development in agriculture
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