• 10 Home 2023, 07:57

The planned agricultural season is beginning.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Vahit Kirişci, made statements in Burdur.

Kirişci expressed that they have been discussing drought, environmental and climate changes, and rainfall-related issues both globally and in Turkey. He stated that the average rainfall in Turkey is 574 millimeters and it is not uniform across the country.

Kirişci, mentioning that Turkey is located in the Mediterranean basin and semi-arid geography, pointed out that it is also close to important conflict areas such as Syria, Iraq, and Russia-Ukraine due to its geopolitical position.

Explaining that the country's population is not constant, Minister Kirişci stated that the population, which was 65 million in 2002, has now reached 85 million. He said:

"We need to consider the additional 20 million population of this country. Of course, it doesn't stop with this 20 million population. Being at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the challenges of geopolitical risks, and being on the migration route, we inevitably have to host these people, whether regular or irregular migrants. It is useful to know that there are around 4.5 million of them. Another issue is that we export as a country. We are increasing our exports every day. Our general exports increased from $36 billion in 2022 to $254 billion today. In 2002, $3.8 billion of the $36 billion was related to agriculture and food, and now our agricultural product and food exports account for $30 billion within the $254 billion. Despite the pandemic, while we had 15 million tourists visiting our country in 2002, today we have exceeded 52 million. As a country, we are a great country that flies to 122 countries and 255 destinations with our national pride, Turkish Airlines. Considering that we have 185 million passengers either as transit passengers in Turkey or as passengers coming to Turkey, we are a country that feeds such a large passenger base with what you, dear brothers and sisters, produce. 185 million air passengers consume what you produce."