Farmers’ debts rise as Ziraat’s interest income grows
In the first half of 2025, marked by frost and drought, farmers struggled under mounting debt. Ziraat Bank’s farmer support loans under close monitoring grew by 76.7% to exceed 33.6 billion TL.
The production season began with frost disasters and worsened with drought. Many crops suffered severe yield losses, while rising input costs forced farmers into deeper debt. Crushed by costs, producers had no choice but to rely more heavily on loans.
Ziraat Bank’s financial tables for the first half of 2025 once again revealed the debt spiral engulfing farmers. Debts owed to the bank rose 50.8% compared to the same period last year, reaching 839.94 billion TL.
During this period, loans under close monitoring grew 76.7% to 33.57 billion TL. Of this, 3 billion TL was restructured, while the remaining 30 billion TL could not be restructured. The bank’s total stock of loans under close watch increased from 191.42 billion TL in the first half of 2024 to 290.64 billion TL this year.
FRIENDSHIP WITH FARMERS ONLY IN THE LOGO
Known as the “farmers’ bank,” Ziraat Bank’s second-half balance sheet showed the share of agricultural loans in total loans shrinking. The bank’s total loan volume reached 3.66 trillion TL in the first half of 2025.
The share of agricultural support loans fell to 22.9%, down from 26.8% at the end of 2024, reflecting the bank’s long departure from its mission to support farmers.
INTEREST INCOME GROWS
As farmers’ indebtedness increased, the bank’s interest income from loans grew massively. By the end of June, its specialised banking interest income reached 147.73 billion TL, up 63.3% from the same period last year.
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PRODUCERS’ INFLATION KEEPS CLIMBING
Farmers’ input inflation continued to rise. According to TÜİK’s Agricultural Input Price Index (Tarım-GFE) for June, input costs increased 2.52% monthly and 33.88% annually. The sub-category with the highest annual rise was veterinary expenses with 61.77%, while fertilisers and soil improvers saw the highest monthly increase at 6.05%.
Top annual increases in inputs (%):
- Veterinary expenses: 61.77
- Fertilisers: 40.98
- Other goods and services: 40.28
- Seeds and planting materials: 35.49
- Animal feed: 34.28
- Diesel, energy, lubricants: 25.71
- Agricultural chemicals: 17.91
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REGULATION TARGETING LAND AT CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
The Council of State has raised doubts over the constitutionality of a regulation allowing farmland to be leased without the owner’s consent. The Farmers’ Union (Çiftçiler Sendikası), long opposing this measure, had filed a lawsuit, insisting: “Our rights over our land cannot be usurped.”
In the case against the regulation allowing the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to lease farmland left idle for two years, the 10th Chamber of the Council of State issued a critical interim ruling. It found that Article 8/K of the Soil Protection and Land Use Law, which underpins the regulation, may be unconstitutional and referred the file to the Constitutional Court.
The regulation foresaw idle farmland being leased without the owner’s consent, with rents and tenants determined by the ministry, effectively removing landowners from their rights. The Farmers’ Union argued this violated the constitutional rights to property, access to justice, freedom of contract, and the principles of rule of law and proportionality.
The Council of State held that the law and regulation sidelined farmers entirely, granted the administration unlimited and arbitrary authority, and struck at the core of property rights.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Çiftçinin borçları Ziraat’ın faizi arttı, published in BirGün newspaper on August 21, 2025.
