Landscape, Anatolia, Turkey

These neatly delimited fields are indicators of the modernization of agriculture in Turkey since the 1950s. The primary sector (agriculture, forestry…) represent today 8.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 26.4 of employment, these figures are decreasing. But farms remain still mostly family-run and small. Farming traditionally associates the cultivation of cereals with the breeding of small and large animals. Modernization brought a diversification of crops. Olives, figs, grapes et citrus are grown in coastal regions. Coton and greenhouse vegetable produce come from the Mediterranean coast. Tobacco grows in the western part of the country along the Egean coast and on the alluvial plains along the Black Sea. Hazelnuts and tea are grown in the north-eastern corner of the country and sugar beets are cultivated on the high central plateau of Anatolia. All sectors taken together, about half of Turkey’s exports are destined to the European markets –since 1995, Turkey enjoys a customs union agreement with the European Union– but some trade restrictions still exists.