Turkey Leads in Agricultural Budget, Lags in Farmer Support

September 23, 2026 · Tarım Pusulası

While Turkey's agricultural support budget surpasses the UK's in total, the high number of registered producers means Turkish farmers receive 18 times less support per capita than their British counterparts.

According to 2025 data shared by Ergin Kahveci, Turkey has allocated 158.5 billion TL, approximately £3.03 billion, to agricultural support within the scope of the Medium-Term Program. During the same period, the UK's agricultural support budget remained at £2.32 billion. When comparing the overall totals on paper, Turkey appears to have allocated a larger budget, surpassing the UK by 1.31 times in terms of total public resources committed.

Despite the superiority in the total budget, the number of producers reached by the support completely shifts the balance. While the budget allocated in the UK is distributed among only 101,000 farms, the average support per farm reaches £22,789. In Turkey, the 158.5 billion TL resource is divided among 2.36 million producers registered in the Farmer Registration System. This results in only £1,282, or approximately 67,076 TL, per Turkish farmer. A farmer in the UK receives, on average, 18 times more support than their counterpart in Turkey.

The fact that Turkey has 23 times more registered farmers than the UK limits the impact of the total budget size on the ground. While per capita national income in the country is stated to exceed $18,000, the average income in rural areas falling below $5,000 deepens the income gap. It is emphasized that rural development and retaining the young population in agriculture, within an administrative structure that combines agriculture with forest and water management, can only be achieved not just through the size of the total budget, but through per capita real income.

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