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Turkey plans agriculture reform for EU entry talks |
Turkey must create jobs for farmers made redundant in a wide-ranging reform to make the sector meet European Union standards by 2010, an agriculture official said on Friday.
Around a third of the workforce in Turkey, a country of some 70 million people, is employed in the farming sector.
The European Commission said last month in a report on Turkey's progress towards meeting the EU's basic criteria that the sector would be eligible for financial support but could face permanent measures barring immigration of its workers.
"We need to open new non-farming jobs in rural areas and cut the share of the population who (depend) on farming and livestock to less than 10 percent," the Agriculture Ministry's deputy undersecretary Hasim Ogut told a news conference.
New jobs in the industrial and service sectors have to be created for farmers who will be left jobless during the transition to a less protected domestic market, Ogut said.
Around half Turkey's land is devoted to agriculture, roughly in line with the EU average, although much of it is used for subsistence farming with relatively low productivity.
Turkey has recently sent delegations to new EU members Hungary and Poland to learn about their experience in agriculture negotiations.
On Friday, Poland's former senior EU farm negotiator Jerzy Plewa was in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials.
"You can be sure that Turkey will be a net beneficiary of EU subsidies for every part of its agriculture sector after accession," Plewa told reporters.
The amount of subsidies Turkey may qualify for has raised fears in several EU countries worried that their own regions could lose aid.
Under the strategy plan, Turkey hopes its agriculture sector will gain a competitive edge through the mergers of farm businesses and rehabilitation of the rural infrastructure.
But compliance with EU norms will take a long time and modernising its farm sector will require an extensive economic development programme, Ogut said.
Ankara hopes to start accession talks next year. EU leaders are expected at a summit on December 17 to invite Turkey to start negotiations on joining the 25-member bloc.
Source: Reuters
22.11.2004
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