ISTANBUL, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The major twin earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye on Feb. 6 have raised serious concerns about the country's agricultural capacity as the 10 hardest-hit provinces are home to about 3.58 million hectares of agricultural land, or 15 percent of the nation's total.
The provinces are responsible for 15.5 percent of all planted grains and crops, 15.2 percent of vegetables and 25.2 percent of fruit and spices in Türkiye, with nearly a fifth of the 34.2-billion-U.S. dollar agricultural exports last year coming from the region, according to a report by the financial daily Dunya.
In fact, agricultural drought had already been causing concern in Türkiye even before the disaster, as the government released a five-year action plan for agricultural drought just a week before the devastating earthquakes.
"Drought is something we are going to have to accept ... We need to take certain precautions to minimize it immediately," Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci said.
The massive earthquakes have only exacerbated the problem.
"With years of climate change, widespread drought, and serious risks faced by agricultural production during summer months ... we will reach their maximum level in the wake of the earthquakes," Yusuf Demir, a professor of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Ondokuz Mayis University, told daily Birgun.
"Farmers need to get hold of seeds, fertilizer, pesticides. Meanwhile, people are struggling to survive, their houses are destroyed, and their tractors don't work," he warned.
Toward this end, Kirisci, the agriculture minister, announced last week that nearly 50 million Turkish liras (2.6 million dollars) in agricultural support were being paid out to farmers.
Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations issued a flash appeal "seeking 25 million dollars to reach 900,000 rural people in all 10 affected provinces (in Türkiye) ... over the next three months." ■