Rising costs drive farmers off their land: Productive agricultural areas changing hands for investment and speculation

Rising input costs, prolonged drought periods, and inadequate state support policies are pushing farmers out of production across Turkey. According to Cumhuriyet, productive agricultural land in the Aegean, Marmara, and Mediterranean regions is now changing hands for investment and speculative purposes.

Producers say that costs across the board — from seeds and fertilizers to fuel and labor — have surged in recent years, while farmgate prices have lagged far behind. Insufficient agricultural subsidies and difficulties in accessing credit are further forcing farmers to sell their land.

A significant portion of the sold land is reportedly being converted away from agricultural use for residential or tourism development. The permanent withdrawal of farmland from production poses a structural risk to food security in the medium and long term. Cumhuriyet underscores that this trend is fuelled not by individual farmer decisions but by a systematic policy vacuum.