Agriculture, Food Safety and Fisheries Financial cooperation

EU attaches great value to the cooperation with Türkiye in the agriculture sector. This cooperation has been very beneficial to both sides, facilitating trade and positively contributing to competitiveness, technology transfer and modernisation of Turkish agriculture.

Substantial financial support has been provided by the EU under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) in the field of agriculture and rural development, food safety, veterinary, phytosanitary, and fishery policies.  Many infrastructure and institution-building projects such as the establishment of an Integrated Administration and Control System, Control and Eradication of Important Animal Diseases, Establishment of Key Information Systems, Strengthening the Official Food Control System (laboratory infrastructure), Legal and Institutional Alignment to Common Fisheries Policy including strengthening Fisheries Management and Stock Assessment, etc. have been supported by the EU through the IPA budget (more than €300 million excluding support for IPARD) over 2002-2016.

IPARD

The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance in Rural Development (IPARD) is assisting Türkiye to implement the CAP acquis communautaire and to align to the EU structures through financial assistance under a multi-annual rural development programme. IPARD provides grants to investments in agriculture, food processing and rural businesses in 42 provinces of Türkiye. Each project is also co-financed by the Turkish public budget and partly by the private investment of the beneficiary. The volume of total IPARD's funding is significant: nearly €1.8 billion including the IPARD III period (2021-2027). When taken together with national Turkish resources and private funding from beneficiaries, the total investment is in the range of €5 billion.

As of spring 2023, the IPARD programme provided investment support to more than 23,300 projects and it has created an estimated 90,000 jobs in rural areas. Most importantly, it also reaches women and young entrepreneurs: 5,977 entrepreneur women and 12,603 young entrepreneurs have been supported across the country. Moreover, the IPARD programme reaches civil society and local authorities through LEADER (links between the rural economy and development actions) and the National Rural Network. The IPARD projects are setting a new standard for investments in the Turkish agri-food sector, fully in line with EU standards.

Useful links

European Commission website on IPARD: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/international/international-cooperation/enlargement/pre-accession-assistance/overview_en

IPARD website of Turkish Managing Authority: https://ipard.tarim.gov.tr/

Turkish IPARD Agency: www.tkdk.gov.tr