Facilitating Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access
In the OIC Member Countries
81
summarizes the support given to farmers by type of policy instrument. The units
in the figure, known as Percentage Producer Support Estimates (percentage PSEs), are
based on an OECD methodology that combines various types of interventions into an
estimated average value for producers, relative to the farm-gate value (inclusive of
support) of what they produce. The figure shows that Turkey’s farmers receive most of
their support in the form of higher prices, in particular through the protection provided by
import tariffs and export subsidies and, to a lesser extent, premium payments for
particular crops. As a result, farmers must produce particular products to receive support,
and if they switch from one crop to another, the relative support given to those crops will
affect that choice. Since the supports result in greater output levels, they may lead to the
use of marginal land and water resources or perpetuate outdated production methods.
The de-coupled payments, which do not affect choices about what to produce or how to
produce it, have never formed a large portion of the support provided to farmers and have
dwindled since 2006. Targeted assistance programs that generate positive environmental
benefits or reduce the impediments to adopting new technology were introduced recently,
but they are not central policy instruments. Even so, because of rising world prices and
policy changes, the average ratio of producer prices to border prices in Turkey fell from
1.25 in 1995–97 to 1.19 in 2009–11. 139
THE CUSTOMS UNION
Turkey’s deep, longstanding ties to the EU have shaped the agricultural sector in
important ways. Turkey was an original member of the Council of Europe, established in
1949 to promote European cooperation on human rights, rule of law, culture, and legal
standards. In 1959, two years after the European Economic Community (EEC)—the
originating common market pillar of the EU—was founded under the Treaty of Rome,
Turkey applied for Associate Membership. The scope of the planned economic integration
139 OECD (2012).
FIGURE 48: PRODUCER SUPPORT BY TYPE, TURKEY, 2002–11
Source: OECD 2012.