Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı made evaluations about Türkiye’s agricultural production, agricultural diplomacy and new financing opportunities for the sector in the program he attended in Edirne.
Yumaklı announced that Türkiye has risen to the 7th place in the world in agricultural revenue, the 2026 crop production expectation exceeds 140 million tons and that 5.3 billion dollars of financing will be provided for 10 years within the scope of the project signed with the World Bank. Stating that Türkiye has expanded its goals, Minister Yumaklı pointed out the importance of agricultural diplomacy and said that contacts with China, Germany and Russia have been strengthened.
“Türkiye IS NO LONGER THE OLD Türkiye”
Regarding Türkiye’s increasing weight in the regional and global arena, Minister Yumaklı said, “Turkey is no longer the old Turkey. Today, we are talking about a Türkiye that has enlarged its vision and goals and set the bar much higher. One of the most concrete expressions of this is that we have set the goal of the Turkey Century. This is our claim to emerge as an actor that makes history again. We trust and believe in the potential of both our country and our nation in this regard. Hopefully, we are about to cross a very important threshold in the terror-free Türkiye process. “We are all very confident that this process will bring our country closer to its true power. This process will be a great gain for our national unity, brotherhood and democracy, and will also give us important opportunities to transfer the resources of this country to the education, health, agriculture and industry of this country. It will also strengthen Türkiye’s increasing prestige and weight both in our region and on the global basis.”
“IT WAS OUR PRESIDENT AND Türkiye WHO EXPRESSED THE VICTIMIZATION AND OPPRESSION OF THE VICTIM PEOPLE”
Referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Yumaklı said, “We are going through a period in which the impact of our President’s visionary politics is strongly felt on our region and the world. Our President has once again stated clearly that we, as Turkey, are on the side of right, not power. The latest example of this is his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. For a world where law and justice prevail against massacres, injustice and exploitation, he must prevail.” I, as a son of this country, express my gratitude to our President.
We see being on the side of justice and justice as a matter of honor for our nation and our country. The importance of this for the AK Party has been reflected in his statement from the very beginning. It was the cause of the nation, not the cause of the powerful. This is the cause of those who build bridges of heart from Edirne to Gaza, from Gaza to Arakan, and those who are trying to wipe away the tears of an oppressed person anywhere in the world.
If we put it in the magnificent words of our President Sezai Karakoç, as he voiced at the United Nations podium: ‘They think that if we keep silent, there will be no problem. If we remain silent, history will not remain silent. Even if history remains silent, the truth will not remain silent.’ As a matter of fact, even though the world is silent, it has been our President and Türkiye who have expressed the grievance and suffering of the oppressed and aggrieved people from the very beginning. “I would like to reiterate here that we, together with our President, will continue to give this loud voice to all AK Party members, including all parties in the People’s Alliance,” he said.
“2026 WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION”
Referring to the level that Türkiye has reached in agricultural revenue, Yumaklı said, “Of course, all of this has a result. The agricultural revenue created by the experienced producers and farmers of this country, who produce with their ancient knowledge and experience, has reached 83.2 billion dollars by the end of 2025. If we consider 24 years ago, Turkey was ranked 12th in agricultural revenue in the world, now it is ranked 7th. We would like to thank all our producers, all our farmers, who contributed to this success. I would like to wholeheartedly thank our industrialists and all stakeholders of the sector.
Thank God, 2026 has been a very good year in agricultural production. Thank God, the climate conditions also helped us, and with the strong infrastructure of the sector, our crop production expectation this year has exceeded 140 million tons. This figure is the highest figure we have reached throughout the history of our Republic; I would like to underline this as well. Of course, these days, our farmers and producers have started their preparations for the new production season. “I hope the new era will be a fruitful year, just like 2026,” he said.
“5.3 BILLION DOLLAR FINANCE PACKAGE”
Providing information about the financing agreement signed with the World Bank, Yumaklı said, “I would like to share with you that a development announced by our President on May 14, World Farmers’ Day, has been taken one step further. Our President stated that the Transformation Project of the Turkish Agricultural-Food Sector for Employment and Rural Welfare will start this year, with a resource to be provided by the World Bank. As of yesterday, signatures have been signed with the World Bank as a final result for this financing package. With this project, entrepreneurs who want to invest in the food and agriculture sector will be able to get financing.” We will make it easier to access. Why is this important? Yes, we produce it, but as we always say, if you do not turn it into a value-added product, you will actually waste a potential.
In this regard, especially the production planning came into force and was implemented in 2024; We have now moved on to the second step of this, namely planning the production of the products we produce and making them value added. I would like to say that this financial support will be given to facility, construction and machinery-equipment investments in the field of agriculture and food. And of course, within the framework of the vision we envisage and the direction to be implemented.
Of course, our main goal here is to implement a system in which the products produced by our producers will not have any marketing problems and their products will be processed in the right place and in the right industrial facility. This project will continue for 10 years and includes a figure of 5.3 billion dollars. Hopefully, we want to make the call for the first 750 million dollars approved by the World Bank before the end of this year. “I hope that our TKDK institution will announce the application conditions and details of the project as it will continue as the executive,” he said.
