Proceedings of the 13 th Meeting of the
COMCEC Agriculture Working Group
13
3.2. Selected Case Studies and Policy Recommendations
In the second presentation, Prof. SAYAN presented the main findings of the report on selected case
studies. The field visit countries were Turkey (Asia Group), Morocco (Arab Group), and The Gambia
(Africa Group), the desk study OIC country was Chad, and the two non-OIC desk study countries
were Thailand and Brazil. Prof. SAYAN presented the policy recommendations in the final part of
the second presentation.
Turkey
Prof. SAYAN indicated that, as of 2016, the GDP share of agriculture in Turkey is around 6% and
that the largest portions of agricultural exports and imports are in agri-food products. He stated
that 42% of Turkey’s agricultural exports are to the OIC destinations and 16% of imports are from
the OIC origins.
Prof. SAYAN also gave information on top agricultural trade partners of Turkey. As of 2016, the top
5 export destinations were Iraq, Germany, USA, Italy, and Syria, and the top 5 import origins were
Russia, USA, Ukraine, Brazil, and Germany.
The main messages originating from the key informant interviews conducted in Turkey were as
follow:
 Agricultural trade has largely been liberalized in terms of tariff protection.
 There exist export subsidies in agriculture to boost production and exports.
 Small & fragmented farms, inefficient value chains, and difficulties in access to finance are
major problem areas.
 That there exist too many cooperatives targeting the entire sector and it is a source of
inefficiency.
 Turkey’s ability to deliver a relatively large number of agri-food products is a logistic
advantage.
 The institutional differences among the OIC member countries represent a challenge on
intra-OIC agricultural trade.
Morocco
Prof. SAYAN stated that, as of 2016, the GDP share of agriculture in Morocco is 12% and that the
largest portions of agricultural exports and imports are in agri-food products. He expressed that
14% of Morocco’s agricultural exports are to the OIC destinations and 9% of imports are from the
OIC origins.
Prof. SAYAN shared some information on top agricultural trade partners of Morocco. As of 2016,
the top 5 export destinations were Spain, France, Russia, Netherlands, and Italy, and the top 5
import origins were France, USA, Brazil, Argentina, and Spain.
The main messages originating from the key informant interviews conducted in Morocco were as
follow:
 Ensuring a certain level of production and protecting farmers especially in arid areas are
critical policy objectives.
 There have been significant reductions in tariffs in the past few decades, followed by the
2013 tariff reform, and the US and the EU standards in sanitary and hygiene have been
adopted.
 The Green Morocco Plan since 2008 has covered multiple dimensions such as distributing
lands, restructuring of farmers into cooperatives, and irrigation projects.