Facilitating Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access
In the OIC Member Countries
88
Because the food industry in Turkey is largely populated by small and medium-size firms,
another role for government is to help educate the industry about new standards and
coordinate efforts to help firms comply. Finally, government can also play a facilitating
role by helping the food industry respond to emerging private standards.
Turkey’s livestock subsector has received particular attention. The general view is that
improving food safety in the livestock subsector could benefit local consumers and open
export opportunities, and the government has taken significant actions in this direction.
For example, it introduced an identification system for bovine diseases in 2004 and a
similar system for sheep and goats in 2009. The Veterinary Services, Phytosanitary, Food
and Feed Law, enacted in 2010, brings the regulatory framework for the livestock
subsector into closer alignment with that of the EU. These efforts were supported by the
EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance Rural Development program for Turkey,
which was approved by both parties in December 2007. A needs assessment in
preparation for a World Bank project has identified actions that would further strengthen
food safety .
The Government of Turkey has laid out its plan for policy alignment in the Rural
Development Program for 2007–13. The program targets key subsectors, including dairy,
meat, fruit, vegetables, and fish, and it has a total budget of € 1.165 billion. The current
plan is for the EU to fund half of the program, with the remaining half funded by the
Government of Turkey and program beneficiaries in equal measure. Of the total budget,
roughly 68 percent will go to helping farmers (40 percent) and food processors (28
percent) conform to EU standards.
BOX 2: ELIMINATING FOOD SAFETY HAZARDS IN TURKEY’S LIVESTOCK SUBSECTOR AND
CLOSING GAPS IN COMPLIANCE WITH EUROPEAN UNION FOOD SAFETY STANDARDS
In preparation for a World Bank project, a needs assessment looked at practices in milk collection and milk
processing; slaughterhouse and meat processing; production of an animal by-product (rendering); egg
collection, processing, and packaging; and fishing vessels, fish wholesale markets, and fish processors. It
identified shortcomings that leave the food processing chain vulnerable to food safety hazards and to gaps
in compliance with EU food safety requirements. The assessment concludes that the Government of Turkey
has a central role in providing a regulatory framework that builds on the new Food Law and includes the
adoption of additional best-practice regulations. The assessment suggests public-private partnerships to
help small firms plan and secure financing to upgrade their facilities; to upgrade and expand food safety
laboratories; to help develop a safe and secure supply base for industry (for example, by preventing and
controlling animal diseases, especially foot-and-mouth, bovine tuberculosis, and cattle, sheep, and goat
brucellosis); and to enhance market development and access, primarily through the development and
dissemination of important information.
Source: World Bank 2012e.
Lessons for OIC member countries
Turkey exemplifies the ways in which comparative advantage and trade can reshape the
agricultural sector, even as urbanization and the growth of non-agricultural sectors
transform domestic markets. Recognizing the advantages conferred by Turkey’s