Türkiye has no food security problem: Erdoğan

ANKARA

Türkiye has taken all precautions to not be negatively affected by the ongoing war between the United States and Iran, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, stressing that the country has sufficient fertilizers and other food products.

“While on the one hand, through balanced diplomacy, we managed to protect our country from the ring of fire in our region, we on the other hand succeeded to maintain food security for our 86 million citizens,” Erdoğan said in a statement on the occasion of World Farmers’ Day on May 12 in the Turkish capital.

“We have been on alert from the first day [of the war] to ensure that the conflicts that have deeply shaken Iran and our brotherly countries in the Gulf do not affect our agricultural production,” the president said.

The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has created food security problems in many countries, as the key waterway is one of the main transit routes for the supply of fertilizers in the world.

The conflicts, along with climate change and water scarcity, have once again revealed the importance of food security while concepts like “food nationalism” are becoming more pronounced in the world, Erdoğan suggested.

“We, as Türkiye, have already taken our precautions to this end. We made our plans in line with the motto of ‘Whoever holds the key to the warehouse holds the power,’” he stated, explaining that Türkiye had already supplied enough fertilizers.

“We have no problems with agricultural production and food supply security,” he said, adding Türkiye ranks third in the production of vegetables and fourth in the production of fruit.

Erdoğan also underlined the importance of rural development as the basis of Türkiye’s development policies, stressing that the government is prioritizing the involvement of more youngsters and women in agriculture.

The government’s efforts to keep Türkiye’s food security unaffected from global warming and geopolitical crises will continue onward, Erdoğan stated, informing about the launch of a new agricultural investment plan.

“In this new stage, we will plan our agricultural investments,” he said, saying this new mechanism will create better conditions for the farmers in Türkiye.

His remarks came after the head of a U.N. task force warned that tens of millions of people could face hunger and starvation if fertilizers are not soon allowed through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We have a few weeks ahead of us to prevent what will likely be a massive humanitarian crisis,” Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and leader of the task force, told AFP in an interview in Paris.