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AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY IN 2006 -AGRICULTURE One of the major problems of the world is the rapidly growing population. Although the population growth rate increases, the surface area of the world remains the same. In deed, due to the soil erosion, new residential areas and new production plants, the area of reclaimable areas tend to decrease gradually. On the other hand, according to the reports of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), 40% of the current population of the world is undernourished, moreover 20 million people die every year due to the increasing starvation. The food requirement for these people are approximately 15-20 million tones each year. As the surface area of the world is limited, it is impossible to open new agricultural areas to meet that need. Therefore the efficiency per unit must be increased by using modern techniques and inputs. Pesticides are the most important of these inputs. Today any crops related production performed without using pesticides results in approximately 65% loss in crops. Various plants resistant to some pests and diseases have not even provided the required results in recent years. Furthermore, the methods used to increase productivity such as fertilization, irrigation and cultivation etc. make pesticide use more essential. Consequently, the usage of pesticides are accepted as indispensable applications in agriculture throughout the world today. The share of the agricultural industry in Turkish Gross Domestic Product was 10.3% by providing also a total amount of 29.5% employment rate in 2005. In spite of the structural problems such as having small, inadequate parcels of land, small-scale enterprises and lack of organization, the need of transformation continues as agriculture is one of the major sources of employment. As per the statistics of 2005, our country has a total agricultural area of 27 million hectares which comprise of :18 million hectares for cultivation, 5 million hectares left fallow, 1 million hectares for vegetable growing and 3 million hectares for fruits, olive trees, tea growing and viticulture. The appreciation in the agricultural sector sources mostly from the field crops production where the growth rate of the agricultural industry is being affected directly by the changes in harvest. The structural problems such as having small scale enterprises, marketing problems and lack of organization of the manifacturers prevent the productivity in the industry and the increase of the income level of the manifacturers. In this context, in order to increase the productivity and quality, maintaining all kinds of materials on time, up to standards with available prices by domestic production has crucial impact on the reproduction of high qualified vegetables. In line with the developments of the world, organic agricultural production gains importance gradually in Turkey in order to protect the ecological stability, diminish the negative effects of the agriculture to the environment and increase the socio economic level of the manifacturers. Organic agricultural production activities have started with 8 products by 1980's and has reached to 205 products by 2005. Fields for organic agriculture is approximately 204,000 hectares in Turkey as per the data of 2005. Execution of the environment friendly methods in pest controls considering food safety issues have been vitally important. Based on this observation, it is important to prevent air, water and soil pollutions and develop collaboration among researchers, manifacturers and end users as well as integrated pest control activities. The rate of the Direct Income Support which was 64% of the budget in 2005 has decreased to 55% in 2006. Within this context, 2,2 million farmers who had manifactured on a 12 million hectares of agricultural land received support in 2001. The number of the farmers who received direct income support increased by 26% and reached to 2,8 million in 2006 and the registered agricultural area has reached to 17 million hectares. Government Backed Agricultural Insurance practices subject to the Agricultural Insurance Act No:5363 which was issued in 2005, has been started in 2006 in order to compensate the losses of the manifacturers due to the risks and uncertainties which threatens the agricultural and livestock production. -LIVESTOCK Although our country has a large number of livestock, the yield per unit of livestock is relatively low. While the average carcass weight of cattle is approximately 270-280 kg. in the countries where stockbreeding is highly developed, it is around 180-190 kg in our country. The milk yield per cow is approximately 1,800-2,000 kg/lactation in our country wheras it is around 5,000-6,000 kg/lactation in the above mentioned countries. According to the statistical data of 2005, out of 11 million cattle in our country, 43% of them are culture-hybrid and 22% are of pure culture breeds. 1,5 million cattle were fertilized artificially in 2005 in order to obtain qualified cattle breeds. This amount is expected to reach to 1,6 million in 2006. The rate of local breed sheep, which have relatively low yield rate, is 97% out of the total number of 25 million. The most important issue effecting the profitability of stockbreeding is the low supply of crude feed of good quality and improvement in the amount, variety, quality and production of the feed plants is still keeping its importance for the industry. While protective measures for reducing the negative effects of animal diseases and harmful organisms at the level of livestock enterprises are of great importance, the need for improving the quality and capacity in the production of vaccine, medicine and serum which are suitable for the conditions in our country still persists. |
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