1st Agricultural Council Results Declaration

November 25–27, 1997

1. Recommendations have been made regarding the enactment of the following legislative amendments and/or new laws to increase the effectiveness of public and private sector institutions and implement the necessary regulations for achieving the breakthrough required by Turkish agriculture:

• Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Decree with the Force of Law Defining the Authority, Duties, and Responsibilities of the Ministry
• Pasture Law
• Agricultural Products Insurance Law
• Agricultural Framework Law
• Land Law
• Producers’ Unions Law
• Wholesale Markets Law
• Variety Protection Law
• Law No. 308 on the Registration and Certification of Seeds
• Law No. 6968 on Agricultural Pest Control and Agricultural Quarantine

-Decree Law No. 560 on Food

2. Restructuring of the central and provincial organizations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Transferring the authorities falling within the scope of this Ministry but currently held by other ministries,
3. Establishing a new General Directorate to carry out activities such as protecting soil and water resources and preventing erosion,
4. The rapid implementation of the Land Law, which will include other measures for the protection of water and soil, as necessary to effectively prevent the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes,
5. Ensuring the functionality of advisory bodies established on a subject and product basis to provide the necessary coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which is responsible for agricultural activities, and other public and private sector institutions, and establishing new advisory bodies if necessary.
6. Establishing producer associations on a product basis to ensure the proliferation of producer organizations that can take on tasks from production to marketing,
7. Establishing a sound basis for agricultural statistics using techniques such as soil and irrigation maps and remote sensing systems,
8. Measures should be taken to encourage the establishment and development of agricultural enterprises of optimal size, and these enterprises should be kept in continuous operation. In this context, amendments should be made to the relevant laws to prevent the fragmentation of enterprises through inheritance and to ensure land consolidation,
9. Taking the necessary measures to ensure that the private sector, which has reached significant capacity in marketing products in our country, enters into contract production with our producers,

10. Establishment of specialized customs laboratories for the import and export of agricultural products,
11. Public publishing services should be established in cooperation with local governments and universities to ensure that technical information reaches our producers in a timely manner and locally, and that farmers are involved in the decision-making process at every stage of the publishing work.
12. Supporting non-public extension activities involving farmer organizations, the private sector, consulting firms, and voluntary organizations by mobilizing potential outside the public sector in agricultural extension, and establishing a pluralistic extension structure,
13. Taking measures to promote livestock farming and establish nucleus breeding operations where pedigree records are kept to expand breeding production,

14. The development of commodity exchanges and the promotion of the marketing of products on these exchanges, including the establishment of a futures market, primarily for cotton,
15. Clearly defining the terms “villager,” “farmer,” and “producer,” determining the size of the economic enterprise, and issuing identity cards to producers,

16. Continuing support for Turkish agriculture is of great importance. However, developing and implementing an effective agricultural support model that responds to current conditions and needs, and considering it as a rational option in our support policies,
17. Within the framework of dynamic support models, state support should be restructured to ensure that support mechanisms operate within a comprehensive framework encompassing production, processing, and marketing stages, thereby facilitating the functioning of the free price mechanism. Particular emphasis should be placed on enhancing productivity and technical infrastructure for products where we possess comparative advantages,
18. In line with these objectives, taking into account the experiences of other countries, a gradual transition from the current support model to the PREMIUM SYSTEM should be implemented,

19. The resources necessary to support the Premium System should be allocated in the budget. In the long term, a self-financing fund similar to the FEOGA, which serves as an example for European Union countries, should be established,
20. Taking into account the useful work done by the Agricultural Support Board, this board should continue its coordination role in determining and monitoring agricultural support decisions,
21. In order for the budget allocated for fertilizer subsidy payments in the 1998 budget to be sufficient and for the system to function more effectively, the subsidy amount should be determined as a fixed amount, and the subsidy should continue to be paid in advance to producers and distributor organizations,
22. The current legislation and regulations, which are insufficient for the effective implementation of the processes necessary for the development of seed production, should be updated to meet current conditions, taking into account the international agreements to which we are a party,
23. Relieving Ziraat Bank of state-assigned duties that increase its financial burden and restructuring it to focus solely on agricultural lending,
24. Agricultural credit interest rates should be reviewed in line with the decline in inflation,
25. Reviewing and reducing the VAT rates applied to agricultural products and agricultural inputs,
26. It is recommended that measures be taken to prevent chemical inputs from polluting soil and water resources.