O. Gürsoy1 and H. Sungur2
1. University of Çukurova, Faculty of Agriculture, 01330 Adana, Turkey
2. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, General Directory of Agricultural Research, Ankara, Turkey
Turkey is bordered by the Mediterranean in the south, the Black Sea in the north and the Aegean and the Sea of Marmara in the west. It has enormous diversity of climate, crops and animals. Within its nine well-defined ecoregions, different livestock and crop production systems have evolved over the centuries. In spite of industrialisation, Turkey’s economy is still dominated by agriculture. Although official statistics show that agriculture contributes 15% of GDP, when industries based on agriculture, such as the textile and food industries, are included, this contribution exceeds 50%. Turkey is the largest livestock producer in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region; however, there is a growing gap between supply and demand for animal products.
The livestock sector represents 30% of the contribution of agriculture to GDP. There are 4 million agricultural enterprises, of which 96% are mixed crop–livestock farms. Cattle are kept on approximately 65% of farms and small ruminants on 35%. The mean number of animals on these farms is 4 cattle, 39 sheep and 27 goats (Sonmez and Kaymakcý 1997). A large proportion of the production is consumed by the household, and the rest is generally marketed through middlemen, because of the distances from urban centres.
There has been a large decline in the livestock population during the last 15 years. In 1995, there were 11.8 million cattle, 33.8 million sheep, 9.1 million goats, 255,000 buffaloes, 5000 pigs and 2000 camels. These figures represent a decline of 26% in the number of cattle, 31% in sheep, 52% in goats, 75% in buffaloes, 61% in pigs and 83% in camels (Gursoy 1997). Reasons for this decline include drastic changes in livestock support policies and ratios between prices of inputs and outputs, rangeland degradation and attractive alternatives for investment.
In recent years, dairy and feedlot production have become more intensive around large cities such as Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Adana and Konya, but most other livestock production is still traditional and extensive (Yalcýn 1986). Ruminant production is based on grazing communal rangelands, marginal land, stubble, fallow areas, maquis and woodlands throughout most of the year. Animals are housed during the harsh winter and are supplemented with cereal straw and some grain. Mating and parturition are highly seasonal in most of the sheep, goat and cattle breeds. Thousands of years of natural selection have resulted in animals that are fairly low producers but are very hardy and well adapted to adverse climatic and nutritional conditions, and resistant to diseases and parasites.
Milk production increased by 51% between 1980 and 1995, from 5.5 to 10.6 million tonnes. During this period, the contribution of cattle to milk production rose from 62% to 87%, mainly because of the increase in the more productive cross-bred population. The contribution of sheep to milk production is now only 9%, of goats 3% and of buffaloes 1%. The decline in sheep milk production may be due to the culling of unproductive animals. Most milk is processed by mobile, small-scale, traditional processors, with less than 15% processed in modern plants, mainly because production is highly seasonal.
Meat production from all species declined between 1990 and 1996, from 742,000 to 613,000 t. The decline in production from cattle was 20%, from sheep 14% and from goats 8%; from the small number of buffaloes and camels the declines were 52% and 47%. There was, however, an increase in mean carcass weight between 1983 and 1995 from 128 to 191 kg in cattle, from 13.4 to 18.6 kg in sheep and from 15.7 to 16.8 kg in goats. In cattle, the increase in meat production per head results from an increase in the proportion of cross-bred animals. The high domestic demand for meat has increased the number of animals raised in feedlots and reduced the slaughter of milk lambs.
According to recent projections, in the year 2000 there will be an annual per capita demand in Turkey for 24.6 kg of red meat, 9 kg of poultry meat, 166 kg of milk and 8.5 kg of eggs. To meet this demand, meat production will have to increase to 1.7 million tonnes and milk production 11.62 million tonnes. This will not occur without an increase in incentives and support for the neglected livestock sector.
In general, agricultural research in Turkey is a government activity and there is no significant livestock research in the private sector (MARA/GDAR 1995). Livestock research is the responsibility of the General Directorate of Agricultural Research (GDAR) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), the General Directorate of Rural Services (GDRS), the Technical and Scientific Research Council (TUBITAK), the Atomic Energy and Nuclear Research Agency and the universities (Mizrak et al 1997).
The GDAR has 53 institutes conducting research on crop production and protection, livestock production, animal health, food science and aquaculture. Nineteen institutes are involved totally or partially in livestock research and another nine in veterinary research. The GDAR also funds approved research in the universities. Only 16.5% of its 1997 budget was allocated to animal production, animal genetic resources and animal health.
In the area of livestock production, the GDAR is responsible for determining research priorities and for funding, monitoring and evaluating research related to
In addition, it is concerned with the extension of research results to users and co-operation with domestic and foreign research institutions and universities.
Since 1994, all research priorities have been systemically examined within the Agricultural Research Master Plan, using a priority-setting method originally used in Australia (MARA/GDAR 1995). A maximum of 15 research opportunity areas are selected every three years by specialised field crop, horticulture and livestock commissions. Priorities are determined in a workshop attended by representatives of all aspects of agriculture—the stakeholders.
Four criteria were taken into consideration in assessing these priorities:
The priority for livestock production is high for dairy and feef cattle; is medium for sheep and goats, feed and feed crops, and poultry and aquaculture; and is low for beekeeping and sericulture, processed livestock products, and veterinary medicines and agrochemicals.
The current programme priorities are
high priority
- on-farm research on reproductive performance, supplementary feeding, feed quality, management techniques and housing
medium priority
- genetic characterisation of indigenous sheep and goat breeds
- improvement of production by pure breeding and cross-breeding
- epidemiology of sheep and goat diseases, including deficiency diseases, and development of vaccines
- lamb production and carcass quality
low priority
- fleece and mohair production and quality improvement
- for beef and dairy cattle
high priority
- feedlot systems and improvement of feed quality, silage making
- improvement of reproductive performance
epidemiology of cattle diseases, including deficiency diseases, and development of vaccines
medium priority
- improvement of beef and dairy cattle by selection and cross-breeding
low priority
- housing, mechanisation and management of intensive dairy and beef systems
- genetic characterisation of indigenous cattle breeds
- use of veterinary medicines, vaccines, hormones and other chemicals.
The TSRC has a Veterinary and Livestock Production Research Group responsible for funding, monitoring and evaluating research and for a research centre at Gebze, where some veterinary research is undertaken. It has projects on
The GDRS has 12 research institutes, distributed throughout Turkey. Their main areas of research are soil and water conservation, irrigation and drainage, hydrology, soil productivity, plant nutrition and mechanisation (Mizrak et al 1997).
There are over 50 universities in Turkey, 22 with faculties of agriculture and 11 with faculties of veterinary science. Less than 3% of their total research funds are used for livestock production and health, and they have no set research priorities.
Setting priorities in agricultural research has resulted in allocating in the next 10 years only 16.5% of resources to research on cattle, sheep, goats, veterinary medicine and chemicals, feeds and forage crops, poultry, aquaculture, beekeeping and sericulture. Most of the remaining 83.5% will be allocated to field and horticultural crops. As livestock production contributes 30% of total agricultural production, at least this level of resources needs to be allocated to livestock research. Farmers’ priorities for research need to be given greater consideration. Research projects need to be oriented more to development with emphasis on on-farm projects, extension and use of a multidisciplinary approach within farming systems.
The institutions involved in livestock research, the universities, GDAR, TUBITAK and funding bodies such as the State Planning Organisation should set priorities and unite their individual efforts, technology, human resources and infrastructure to make better use of limited resources. The GDAR should immediately take measures to improve the capacity of research staff in the institutes scattered throughout the country, in collaboration with national and international universities. Incentives should be given to the private sector to undertake some research, as in the poultry industry. The costs of research should be shared by users.
Gursoy O. 1997. Animal recording in Turkey, with special reference to sheep recording. Proceedings of a Workshop on Animal Recording for Smallholders in Rural Areas in Developing Countries, 20–23 October 1997, Anand, India. Indian Council for Agricultural Research/FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), Rome, Italy.
MARA/GDAR (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/General Directorate of Agricultural Research). 1995. Tarimsal Arastirma Projesi, Arastirma Master Plani (Agricultural Research Project, Research Master Plan). MARA/GDAR, Ankara, Turkey.
Mizrak G., Uzunlu U. and Dusunceli F. 1997. Regionalisation of the national agricultural research system in Turkey. Proceedings of a Workshop on Regionalisation of Agricultural Research in the Mediterranean and Near-East Countries, Florence, Italy, 5–7 May 1997. FAO, Rome, Italy.
Sonmez R. and Kaymakcý M. 1997. Turkiye hayvanciliga verilmesi gereken yon (Targets and direction of livestock production in Turkey). Livestock Production Symposium, Trace, Turkey, 9–10 January 1997. Tekirday, Turkey. pp. 1–8.
Yalcýn B.C. 1985. Sheep and Goats in Turkey. Animal Production and Health, Paper No. 60. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), Rome, Italy. 168 pp.
