TURKEY
Turkish Aquaculture Farmers’ Central Union
Promoting sustainable aquaculture Production from fish farming in Turkey has increased several fold over the last decade or so. Aquaculture is both marine and freshwater and is distributed over most of the country with concentrations of marine farms along the western coast, and trout farms in the east. Farmers are organised into provincial unions that themselves belong to a central union which fights for its members’ interests at the national level. Faruk Coskun, the President of the Aquaculture Farmers’ Central Union speaks here about some of the issues affecting Turkish fish farming. The aquaculture sector in Turkey is represented by many national and international institutions and organizations. What are the role and priorities of your organization? The Aquaculture Farmers’ Central Union is a non-governmental organization comprising aquaculture producers in Turkey. Farmers establish Aquaculture Farmers’ Unions in provinces and these Unions constitute the Central Union in Ankara. Currently, there are 18 provincial Farmers’ Unions established in various cities of the country connected to the Central Union, which represents almost 1,000 farmers. The Central Union is the largest organization representing aquaculture farmers in Turkey. Its priority is providing sustainable aquaculture farming and contributing to the further development of the sector by protecting its member farmers’ rights and interests. The Central Union plays a major role in the formulation and implementation of aquaculture policies by cooperating with related public institutions and organizations. In addition, it has duties such as carrying out studies on the subject of EU harmonization, conducting educational www.eurofishmagazine.com
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and promotional activities for producers, and representing its farmers in domestic and international events. As a producers’ union, does your organization have an interest in market-related subjects such as export incentives? Decisions on all kinds of incentive including export incentives are made by the government in Turkey. The Central Union does not have a duty or an activity such as direct export incentive. However, it declares its opinions to related public institutions on this issue on behalf of farmers. Regarding markets and marketing, it helps its member producers by supplying information based on the studies it carries out. What is your Union’s relation with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock? What shape does this support take? The Central Union was established within the framework of the Law of Producers’ Unions enacted by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. Its documents of constitution have been inspected and approved by the ministry. There exists a close relation between the ministry and the Central Union in the
Faruk Coskun, President, Aquaculture Farmers’ Central Union, an organization that represents nearly 1,000 Turkish fish farmers.
crafting of farming policies, and in discussing the problems of the sector and their potential solutions. An efficient cooperation is maintained by the exchange of technical information, and through various meetings, workshops and similar activities. Also, 0.1 of the production support given to producers by the ministry is registered to the Central Union as revenue.
Aquaculture in Turkey represents a success story by increasing from 80,000 tonnes to 212,000 tonnes within the last 10 years. What are the factors behind this success and what is needed to maintain this development? Yes, farmed fish in Turkey has shown significant development in recent years achieving a production volume of 212,000 tonnes. The most Eurofish Magazine 2/ 2014
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