Globalization of agriculture and agricultural transformation in Turkey

The transformation of Turkish agriculture in the post-1980 period has ended with the formation of a new agricultural structure while being opened to the globalizing world. However the approach is considered to be in favour of the export-led growth model adopted by the state after 1980s and it aims to be self-sufficient in agricultural production, the results have created a social concerns of agriculture and food security. Cooperation with some international economic institutions applying and advising Neo-liberal policies necessitated the privatization of State Owned Enterprises operating in agriculture. Additionally, deregulation the agriculture allowed multinational companies operating in this area, Multinational companies being active in all areas of agriculture, from inputs to marketing, and production to finance, and change the competitive structure of the markets. While these multinational companies becoming the main players of agricultural supply chains, agricultural markets have intensified and the cost and marketing the product of small producers increased. On the other hand, opening of agriculture into international markets resulted an increase in imports. Moreover, increase in export has not increased accordingly and resulted in net foreign trade deficits in some strategic product groups. While agricultural producers are not supported adequately the gaps of supply is tried to be covered by import from global markets but export cannot have enough competitive power. Turkey has increased import dependency in products such as grains and legumes while fruit and vegetables are in the leading category in export. Globalization has brought a new type of division of labor in agriculture as expected. However, agricultural export revenues are not enough to meet the import requirements. In another words, Turkish agriculture has given up the food security.