'Turkey making agriculture roadmap for next 30 years'

By Gokhan Ergocun and Tuba Sahin

BURSA, Turkey (AA) - Turkey will soon unveil its national agricultural plan for the next quarter-century and beyond, said the country’s agriculture and forest ministry on Saturday.

"Turkey's agriculture roadmap for the next 25-30 years is being prepared," Bekir Pakdemirli told the 8th Uludag Economy Summit in Bursa, northwestern Turkey.

He added that the National Unity in Agriculture plan would be unveiled in April or May.

"We also want to set a forestry target for the year of 2123 [Turkey’s bicentennial], we need to pursue this path," the minister added.

He said Turkey should always have an economic model based on agriculture.

"Employment in the agriculture sector may fall, but we should raise value-added agricultural production," Pakdemirli underlined.

He stressed that the agriculture sector is as important as the defense sector.

"Turkey ranked first in Europe in agricultural production," Pakdemirli said.

He also said Turkey will need 50 percent more food within 20-25 years, and the country should create a vision for solving structural problems in agriculture.

"Turkey needs optimization, we can increase our agricultural production fourfold," he urged.