AKP has made the villagers unable to produce and the consumers unable to feed themselves

 Nihat Fırat - Member of the LEFT Party Agriculture Working Group

AKP's agricultural policies and practices, which have been implemented for 23 years in line with the directives of the IMF, the World Bank and the World Agricultural Organisation, have rendered farmers and smallholders unable to produce and forced them into poverty. Small family farming has been made unsustainable and the people have been forced into industrial agriculture.

To this end, changes were made to the Seed Law, the Land Protection and Land Use Law, the Metropolitan Law, which turned villages into neighbourhoods, the Market Law, the Agricultural Organised Industrial Zones, the Inheritance Law, and regulations such as the Contract Farming Law were introduced. Everything was made to appear legally compliant. These laws effectively restrained the farmers and peasants.

The increase in agricultural input costs caused by climate crises such as drought, excessive rainfall and floods resulting from global warming, the seizure of agricultural land through emergency expropriation, and the leasing of land that has not been cultivated for two consecutive years to third parties by the state have seriously reduced agricultural production throughout Turkey. The young population has been forced to rapidly abandon rural areas.

As a result, a serious ‘food security’ risk has emerged in the country. Farmers and peasants have been forced to take out high-interest loans from banks and Tarım Kredi Kooperatifleri (Agricultural Loan Cooperatives) in order to overcome production difficulties and sustain their livelihoods. Loans could not be repaid, and mortgaged agricultural lands and tractors were seized and taken away. Farmers were not only burdened with debt to expand their businesses, but also to sustain their livelihoods. The situation of villagers was turned into that of someone stuck in a swamp; the more they struggled, the deeper they sank.

CONSTITUTIONALLY UNLAWFUL

The new Agriculture Law allows agricultural land that has not been cultivated for two consecutive years to be leased to third parties or companies by the state without the owner's consent. This effectively strips the villagers of their property rights over their land.

Due to the violation of Articles 35, 36, and 48 of the Constitution, Çiftçi-Sen (Farmers' Union) filed a lawsuit, and an application was made to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that ‘the mentioned regulation is contrary to the Constitution.’

PUNISHMENT INSTEAD OF PRODUCTION PLANNING

Producers who were unable to sell their products at their true value due to costs and the loss of market opportunities reacted by cutting down trees, ploughing their crops, dumping them in the streets or distributing them to the public free of charge. Severe penalties began to be imposed on these individual protests. Recently, a farmer who dumped a truckload of potatoes on the street because he couldn't sell them was fined 17 million TL on the grounds of ‘disrupting market balance and free competition, and creating a shortage in the market.’ This penalty was a clear message to farmers: ‘Don't seek your rights, or we'll make you pay dearly.’

BIGGEST PROBLEM IS LACK OF ORGANISATION

The reason behind the AKP government's attacks on rural areas is that farmers have been left unorganised. Yet the greatest power of villagers lies in their control of food production, which is the most effective force. Small family farms feed 70% of the world's population using 30-35% of the world's resources. Farmers have suffered greater harm from lack of organisation than from the losses they have incurred in production. Today, they need to take action to put pressure on the political authorities to meet at least their immediate demands.

There is a need for organised struggle for the cancellation of debts, compensation for losses incurred due to the climate crisis, raising and guaranteeing purchase prices, reducing agricultural input costs, increasing agricultural support, and opening up access to markets.

THE STRUGGLE FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IS A MUST

The only way to prevent food inflation is to establish food sovereignty based on a fair relationship between producers and consumers, based on direct supply and demand. As long as food remains a commodity produced and distributed for profit, the food crisis and inflation will not end.

The problems faced in agriculture and food can only be overcome by treating food as a public necessity and ensuring food security, food safety, and food sovereignty through public support.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled AKP köylüyü üretemez, tüketiciyi karnını doyuramaz hale getirdi, published in BirGün newspaper on August 24, 2025.