Addressing the Challenge of Food Security in Turkey

Abstract

Over the next few decades the world faces an historic challenge with the nexus of food security, economic development, and global environmental change. The challenge of the coming years is to produce enough food to meet the needs of nine billion people while also preserving and enhancing natural resources for future generations. Going forward, agriculture will need to adapt to a changing climate in order to ensure adequate food production. Concerns regarding the additional challenges that come with meeting food security have distinctly risen on political and policy agendas in recent years. This chapter focuses on the ability and capacity of the food supply system in Turkey to provide its national food security in the face of growing challenges in production, resource supply and self-sufficiency. Although Turkey is a net food exporting country, it is anticipated that domestic food insecurity will rise in the coming decades. Through discussing the threats posed by the changing demographic structure, refugee crises, climate change, increasing land and water scarcities for food production and food price volatility, this chapter tries to uncover the concerns about ensuring food security in Turkey.