Turkish farmer Hava Keles gazes inconsolably at the withered vines of rotten tomatoes in a field that has been ravaged by a series of droughts attributed to climate change.
“My tomatoes, my beans, my peppers are ruined. My watermelons didn’t even grow. The cucumbers I planted withered on the branches,” lamented 58-year-old Keles, in arid terrain in Akkuzulu, north of Ankara.
Keles is among thousands of farmers in Turkey who have had their crops wiped out by lack of rain in the past two years.
Some experts accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose popularity depends on the prosperity driven by rapid urban development, of not doing enough to address the country’s pressing environmental issues.
Erdogan promised, however, that Turkey would ratify the 2015 Paris Agreement in October, ahead of next month’s crucial UN climate summit in Glasgow. Turkey signed the agreement in 2016.
Environmental issues were never high on the political agenda in Turkey, but that changed after a summer of extreme weather events, including forest fires on the Mediterranean coast and devastating floods in the north.
The action may come too late for indebted farmers like Keles, in a country where drought has spread across the country.
This summer, farmers in her neighborhood couldn’t dig deep enough to find groundwater, so they had to fetch it from large tanks.
– ‘Serious Events Coming’ –
Agriculture is an important sector of the Turkish economy. It accounts for around 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 18% of the workforce.
Turkey is self-sufficient in food production and is the seventh largest agricultural producer in the world, exporting everything from hazelnuts to tea to olives and figs.
The country’s wheat imports have grown exponentially, however, in nearly two decades, from $150 million to $2.3 billion in 2019, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
These numbers add to fears that Turkey will shift from being a producer to a country dependent on the outside world to meet its food needs.
“Turkey has a lot to adapt to, especially in terms of agriculture, because severe drought events are coming. What we see is nothing,” warned Levent Kurnaz, director of the Center for Climate Change and Policy Studies at Bogazici University in Istanbul.
The drought is forcing some farmers to give up on the sector, while others choose to plant different crops, with less demand for water. Consumers feel the impact, with rising prices and the devaluation of the Turkish lira.
Food inflation reached 29% in August compared to last year. In an attempt to alleviate the crisis, Erdogan reduced to zero, by the end of the year, customs duties on imports for basic items such as wheat, chickpeas and lentils.
Experts say the government has failed its water management policies, exacerbating the problem.
Farmers are impacted by the significant reduction in water levels in dams across the country, which also puts the water needs of all citizens at risk.
Lakes are drying up.
“We need to build our cities in a way that allows groundwater levels to rise,” said Ceyhun Ozcelik, associate professor in the Department of Water Resources at Mugla Sitki Kocman University.
“If we don’t take the necessary measures, if the urban infrastructure is not enough, then I can say that we will face difficult days in the coming years”, he warned.
– Lifestyle transformation –
In the west of the country, on the Aegean coast, green olive groves cover the hills of Milas, famous for its olive oil, which gained European Union protégé status in December. But the fruit is also at risk.
Ismail Atici, head of the Agricultural Chamber of Milas, said it did not rain a single day in 2021.
“If it continues without rain for one or two months, the trees will not be able to nourish the growing fruit,” he added.
In this dramatic picture, farmers’ costs are escalating.
Ferdun Cetinceviz, 41, who tends to nearly 200 cows and cornfields among the mountains, said he is losing up to 40,000 lire a month ($4,500).
Surrounded by flat, dry land and green mountains in the distance, Cetinceviz estimated that up to 50% of its crop, including corn, was lost this year to drought.
“If I cannot water my crops, which my animals also need, they will be hungry,” he lamented.
Farmers in Milas used to grow cotton, but this requires a lot of water. So they switched to corn.
The Mugla region, including Milas, is suffering from drought levels ranging from exceptionally to severely dry, according to the Turkey Weather Service map, which covers the period December 2020 to August 2021.
The crisis is so serious that experts warn that it will soon affect not only farmers’ livelihoods. It will also impact the well-being of all Turks as it affects the food served on every plate and the availability of clean drinking water.
“This water crisis will affect food, energy and people’s security,” warned Ali Tekkaya, deputy general manager of the General Administration of Water and Sewage in Mugla Province in southwestern Turkey.
“That’s why we don’t look at it and we’re not going to look at it just as a drinking water problem. This issue will completely transform the economy and people’s lifestyle”, he stressed.
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