ISTANBUL, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is in talks with more than 10 countries to rent foreign farmland to grow food to meet domestic needs, local newspaper Hurriyet reported on Wednesday.
Turkish authorities have been meeting with officials from Venezuela, Ukraine, Sudan, and some other African and Latin American countries in consultation, said the report.
Vahit Kirisci, minister of Agriculture and Forestry, said even though Turkey is self-sufficient in domestic consumption, the rented foreign farmland would provide Turkey with the capacity to export food.
"We want to produce food on soils that have never been cultivated ... There are many such regions in the world, especially in the south of Africa," he was quoted by Hurriyet as saying.
The focus will be on products such as sunflower, corn, cotton, sesame, sugarcane and alfalfa, which have a production shortfall in Turkey. Tropical fruit and vegetables such as pineapple, mango, avocado and canola are planned to be used for both export and domestic market purposes, Hurriyet noted.
Turkey has leased 850,000 hectares of land in Sudan over the years, the report said, noting that this project will be replanned, and priority will be given to agricultural products that cannot be produced in Turkey due to climate or other reasons.
Kirisci told an agricultural event in southeastern Diyarbakir province on Saturday that Turkey is set to begin wheat cultivation in Venezuela, amid mounting concerns of a global shortage of the commodity, Turkish online newspaper T24 reported.
It is reported that growing agricultural products on foreign soil was one of the key topics during Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's recent visit to Turkey. ■