Facilitating Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access
In the OIC Member Countries
86
FIGURE 52: NUMBER OF FIRMS EXPORTING FROM TURKEY TO THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH
AFRICA, BY PRODUCT TYPE AND YEAR, 2002–10
Source: Authors’ calculations, based on data from TurkStat (2012).
Markets: The challenge of including all farmers
As the value chain leading from the farm to domestic or foreign consumers becomes more
formal and participation by supermarkets and restaurants grows, the risk that poorer and
smaller-scale producers will be unable to participate increases. This risk is an ever-
present danger in Turkey, given that nearly two-thirds of the country’s 3 million farms are
smaller than 5 hectares .
To link rural communities to markets, Turkey invested heavily in roads, ports, and the
regulatory and permitting processes associated with exports. Turkey’s membership in the
FIGURE 53: FARM SIZE DISTRIBUTION IN TURKEY, 2001
Source: Lowder, Skoet, and Singh 2014.