According to the statement made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Minister Bekir Pakdemirli stated that “a total of 16.4 million Turkish lira will be paid as rent by Friday at 18:00 for the 95 licensed depots determined by the Ministry of Trade and notified to our Ministry for the second period of 2020.”
Pakdemirli also emphasized that they continue to practice positive discrimination for young people and women farmers within the scope of small family businesses. He pointed out that small family businesses, which constitute the majority of agricultural enterprises in Turkey, do not have sufficient economic power to establish large processing facilities, and they aim to increase the market share of these businesses by specifically supporting young people and women.
Grant support for young and women farmers
In line with this, Minister Pakdemirli announced a grant, stating, “We will provide 50% grant support for processing (freezing, drying, canning, jam, pasta, etc.) and packaging activities of plant and animal products within the scope of rural development investment supports and small family businesses, especially for young (18-40 years) and women farmers in the 2021-2025 period. We issued the new term Presidential decree in July for this purpose.”
Pakdemirli also provided examples of priority areas for the 50% grant, stating, “They should be young and women, living in rural areas, and wanting to establish small-scale facilities that will process primary agricultural products into value-added products. Sample businesses include pickled leaf facility, honey processing and packaging facility, fruit and vegetable drying facility, oyster mushroom production facility, etc.”
Pakdemirli also noted that they will expand the Expert Hands Project, which is currently being piloted in Mardin, Düzce, İzmir, and Amasya, to all 81 provinces in the new period.
