The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture recently announced the expansion of the "Agricultural Land Leasing" program in response to rising food costs amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Reuters reports.
Turkey's currency, the lira, lost more than 40 percent of its value last year and has further plunged by over 20 percent this year.
After May, the lira accelerated its downward spiral. The currency devaluation has chipped away at the purchasing power of the Turks and greatly affected their daily life.
As a country that mainly relies on imports of resources, Turkey has been suffering from inflationary problems in the advent of the Ukraine crisis as the prices of energy and raw materials have been pushed up around the world.
The inflation rate in Turkey approached 80 percent in June, a 24-year high for the country. And the consumer confidence index (CPI) fell to 63.4 in the same month, the lowest level on record for the data.
"I just bought a banana for 10 lira because my kid wanted to eat it. Now, one can only buy apples, bananas and vegetables as single units, because they are too expensive," said one of the residents.
Compared with the same period last year, the prices of gasoline and diesel in Turkey have risen by about 300 percent. In addition, water and electricity as well as labor costs are also rising.
"Gas and petrol prices are rising around the world, increasing the transporting cost of grain. In addition, fertilizer and diesel prices are also increasing, which also increases farmers' production costs," said Teggin, another resident.
In order to solve the problem of high food prices, Turkey's Ministry of Agriculture is now encouraging local farmers to reclaim wasteland around big cities, and has promised to provide free fertilizers, diesel and other materials to save costs.
Meanwhile, the Turkish government is now planning to lease land to 10 countries to ease the stresses and strains.
Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci revealed that Turkey is discussing with Venezuela, Sudan and other countries about leasing land to grow grain.
"Because in the short term, it will not help food inflation. You have to rent the land, after that you have to bring the seeds implemented in the filed [on the floor]. So, it will take some time. In order to solve the food inflation problem, first of all, you have to manage the cost of the energy, but it is not easy to manage (that) nowadays [these energy]," said Cuneyt Dirican, professor of Economics, Istanbul Arel University.
