Rising Costs Slash Cotton Planting Areas
· Tarım Pusulası
Planting areas in Turkey's strategic cotton basins, Söke and Şanlıurfa, are rapidly shrinking due to escalating input costs and suppressed product prices.
Sharp Decline in Planting Areas
In Turkey, which produces cotton with non-GMO seeds holding approximately a 20% global share, planting areas in strategic production basins are rapidly shrinking. In the Aydın Söke region, cotton planting areas, which stood at 283,000 decares in 2024, are projected to fall to as low as 120,000 decares by 2026. The situation is similar in Şanlıurfa, the main hub of production; the planting area, which exceeded 2.4 million decares in 2022, has declined to 1.6 million decares as of 2025.
Cost Pressure Halting Production
Behind this contraction in production areas lies the widening gap between directly increasing input costs and stagnant product prices. The escalating expenses for diesel, fertilizer, seeds, irrigation, and electricity each season are preventing producers from covering their debts at harvest. As the economic sustainability of continuously unprofitable farmers is lost, planting areas shrink, and industry representatives highlight that the inability to meet production costs directly threatens agricultural supply security.