It is estimated that there are 3.4 billion hectares of pasture areas all over the world. Twelve percent of these areas are located in China, 11% in Australia, 7 % in the USA, and 6% in Brasil. Turkey is ranked as 46th among the countries having the largest pasture areas in the world with 14,6 million hectares.1
In the countries where livestock farming is developed and given importance, great attention is given to conserving pasture areas and they are used in productive ways. Pastures are considered crucial not only in terms of feeding the animals, producing fodder and forage crops but also in terms of preserving natural resources and sustainable agricultural production.
In Turkey, on the other hand, especially in the recent years, pastures have been regarded as areas for plundering and sources of unearned income. Because pasture areas are public property belonging to the Treasury, they are targeted by anyone, as exemplified by the proverb “public property (is as vacant and never-ending as) the sea, whoever holds off from feeding on it (is as dumb as) a pig.”* Whenever a public authority or a private enterprise intends to make a new investment, it set its eyes on one of these Treasury lands. And one part of the Treasury lands is pasture areas.
Because stockbreeding is not seriously taken into consideration, pasture areas are easily disposed of. It is regarded as a comparatively “profitable” business to build tourist facilities, industrial plants or shopping malls on grassy areas. And this is presented as an indication of development and prosperity.
Once importance is not given to agriculture and stockbreeding, pasture areas are approached with a rent-seeking perspective and legislative regulations take shape accordingly. We are going to discuss the issue of legislative regulations in detail. In order to be able to understand these regulations, however, it will be useful to zoom in to examine Turkey’s pasture assets.
Pasture areas are becoming smaller
According to the data provided by Turkish Statistical Institiution (TÜİK) for the year 2014, there are 14.6 billion hectares of grass and pasture areas, which is equal to approximately 20% of the total area of Turkey and to approximately 38% of the total agricultural area in Turkey. Pasture areas are becoming smaller each year. That is to say, while in the year 1940 the grass and pasture asset of Turkey was 44.2 million hectares, it decreased to 28.7 million hectares after 20 years in 1960. It is estimated that while the grass and pasture areas decreased to 14.2 million hectares in the year 1990, now the figure is at 14.6 million hectares as of 2014. It is believed that the recent increase is related to locating and recording the pasture areas. Furthermore, the level of pasture areas that have been located and ascertained up to now by the ministry is 10.3 million hectares, not 14.6 hectares.
What is more striking is the table of change in pasture areas on a regional basis, prepared by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. While pasture areas in the Aegean Region were 1,027,900 in the year 1970, it has fallen to 388,846 hectares in the year 2014. For the same period of time, the pasture asset of the Marmara region has receded from 463, 600 hectares to 280, 619 hectares. In the Mediterranean region the level of pastures has receded from 1,002,400 to 501,765 hectares while in the Central Anatolia region it has receded from 5,888, 200 to 3,762,055 hectares. In the 1970-2014 period, the level of pasture areas has receded from 1,993, 100 to 1,073, 371 hectares in the Black Sea region while it has receded from 9,162,100 to 3, 824, 257 hectares in the Eastern Anatolia region. For the same period of time, the pasture areas in the Southeastern Anatolia region have decreased from 2,165, 100 to 553, 256 hectares.
It becomes much easier to use pasture areas out of purpose as the processes of locating, delimitating and assignment proceed very slowly. Pasture areas are being reduced at a rapid rate due to the opening up of pasture areas to agricultural production. They are also transformed into forest land through afforestation projects. In addition, they are zoned for construction and transformed into mass housing estates within the scope of urban transformation projects in the recent years. Apart from that, the problems in the livestock sector, the migration from rural areas to urban areas and evacuation of villages, and the lack of pasture improvement are also among the factors causing these areas to shrink.
Pasture areas have not been properly measured for 17 years
Through a number of legislative developments, pasture areas are being opened up for uses outside of their original purpose. To be more precise, pasture areas are being transformed into rent-seeking areas. When one looks at the legislative regulations that have been put into effect since 1924 when the Village Law was adopted to regulate grass and pasture land, the Pasture Law 4342 went into effect on February 28, 1998 after being published in the governmental Official Gazette. Five months after the law was enacted, he Pasture Regulations were issued on July 31, 1998.
The law seeks to locate and delimit pastures, summer pastures, winter pastures and public grassland and meadows as well as assigning them to villages or municipalities, regulate their use according to specified rules, and increase their productivity through maintenance and improvement efforts.
Although it has been 17 years since the enactment of the Pasture Law, procedures for locating and delimiting pasture areas have not yet been completed. Therefore the pasture areas could not be assigned. As it is stated by the law, in order to define a place as pasture, summer pasture or winter pasture, it has to be identified as such through certification by official documents as well as expert reports. After this identification, boundaries of the places determined as grasslands, pastures, summer pastures and winter pastures must be indicated in due form on 1/5000 scaled maps based on the triangulation system of the country in question. Also, these boundaries must be demarcated with permanent marks: that is to say, they must be delimited. Following the locating and delimiting procedures, the use of grasslands, pastures, summer pastures and winter pastures has to be regulated according to the principles of productivity and social justice; and they should be left and assigned to a number of villages or municipalities for individual or collective use.
According to the data provided by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, since the enactment of the Pasture Law in 1998 until the end of 2014, the level of pasture areas which has been located is 10,348,169 hectares. Of these areas, locating procedures have been completed only for 5.9 million hectares. However, there is no clear data regarding the assignments.
Heavy pressure for land leasing
The situation is more desperate when it comes to pasture improvement. According to the data provided by the ministry, during the 2000-2014 period only the improvement of an area of 500,000 hectares was carried out. Pasture areas are relatively more susceptible to be used outside of their original purposes or disposed of when they are unimproved. Thus, many pastures remain idle because the state does not allocate sufficient resources for that purpose and does not carry out measures to improve them. There is another reason behind the fact why such measures have not been carried out. As is known, one of the significant arrangements initiated with the Pastures Law is the practice of leasing out pasture areas. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, during 2006-2012 period, 1.2 million hectares of pasture land have been leased out. More than double the amount of improved pasture area has been leased out for the use of private enterprise.
Since 2010, a great number of enterprises has been put into operation thanks to low interest government loans for livestock. The non-sector investors excert significant pressure in order to procure the assignment of pasture areas in their investment regions to themselves through leasing. Because the government does not allocate sufficient resources for improvement and productive use of pasture areas, leasing out these areas remains as the only option, as it were. The widespread discourse goes like: “since these pastures are not being used by villagers, it is better to lease them out to private sector and let them improve and use them more productively.”
Pastures opened to rent-seeking concerns through legislation
After the Pastures Law and pastures regulations went into effect they were amended several times. In particular, Article 14, which regulated the assignment purpose of pastures, has gone through changes many times.
Legislative regulations enabling the use of pasture areas outside of their original purpose has been made through legislative decrees, which is a step frequently taken by governments. One of the most obvious examples of this situation in the recent years is the Legislative Decree published in the Official Gazette on August 17, 2011. The legislative decree changed Article 27 of the Construction Zoning Law (İmar Yasası) and introduced the statutory provision that “provisions of the Act 5403 for Soil Protection and Land Use does not apply to built-up areas in villages.” With this change, residential and tourist facilities have been allowed to be built in areas within village boundaries.
Moreover, with the same Legislative Decree, an additional article has been added to the Construction Zoning Law: “Except for the parts of the areas necessary for public services, parts of the pastures, summer pastures and winter pastures which have been decided to be appropriate as provisional residential areas for conventional use can be assigned to demandants for a price and up to 29 years. Parts of pastures, summer pastures and winter pastures which remain in the scope of tourist destinations and culture and tourism development regions can be assigned to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to be used and benefited from in accordance with the Act 2634 for the encouragement of tourism.”
Pasture areas has been opened up to construction with this additional article allowing pasture areas to be used outside of their orignial purpose.
The Rural-urban distinction has been abolished; pastures have fallen into abeyance
One of the significant legislative regulations enabling the opening up of pasture areas to out-of-purpose uses and rent-seeking investments is the act which has been put into effect after being published in the Official Gazette on December 6, 2012. It is entitled “the Law on Establishing Metropolitan Municipalities and Twenty-Six Districts in 13 Provinces and Amendment of Some Laws and Legislative Decrees.” Known by the public as the Metropolitan City Law (Compound-city Law), this law, as it were, has abolished the urban-rural distinction in Turkey. More than 16,000 villages within the boundaries of municipalities have been turned into neighborhoods of cities. Estates belonging to village legal entities have been handed over to municipalities and other state institutions; these estates include pastures.
The most comprehensive change has been made by the Omnibus Bill 6552 enacted in the year 2014. A provision was added so that the assignment purpose could be changed for the areas declared by the Council of Ministers as urban transformation and development project areas. Therefore pasture areas has been opened to settlement as urban transformation and development project areas. This has completely paved the way for rent-seeking use of pasture areas.
Pay the 20-year Price for Pasturage Once , and the Pasture Area Can Be Zoned for Construction
Along with the changes in the Pastures Law, the Pastures Regulation and especially the Article 8 of the Regulation that regulates the assignment purpose have frequently been changed. The last amendment was published in the Official Gazette on October 30, 2015.
The following is an extract from the amendment which opens pastures to misuse and construction in exchange for a twenty-year fodder price:
Of the areas declared by the Council of Ministers as urban transformation and development project areas, modification procedures related to the assignment purpose of the lands which has been assigned by law as pasture, summer pasture and winter pastures, or the lands which have been immemorially used used for that purpose, are subject to the general provisions of the Article 14 of the law and Article 8 of this regulation. Because it is not possible to make modifications in the assignment purpose of pastures, an application for receiving assent of the Pastures Commision regarding summer pastures and winter pastures whose condition and class are good or very good should be made with a 1/5000 scaled map of the area. These areas will be declared urban transformation and development project areas in order to preclude public nuisance which may occur before the decree of the Council of Ministers.
In applications for assignment purpose modifications, the application file has to be attached with the decree of the Council of Ministers together with a sketch regarding the urban transformation and development area in question, a 1/5000 scaled map conforming to cadastral techniques of the immovable properties within the scope of the urban transformation and development project areas together with other information and documents required by the commission.
Following the modification to the assignment purpose by the Office of the Governor, the twenty-year fodder price should be deposited. After depositing the fodder price, the final implementary construction plan is required to be presented to the commission within a 2-year period of time. The modification to the assignment purpose is rendered invalid in case the plans in question are not presented within the specified period of time. If the construction plans are finalized in accordance with the modification to the assignment purpose, registration of the lands in question is conducted on behalf of the Treasury while the registration of pastures belonging to foundations is conducted on behalf of the foundation.
This amendment clearly declares pastures and grasslands to be urban transformation areas and paves the way for opening them to be zoned for construction.
As a result of amendments to the law, the amount of pasture areas, which is already inadequate, will be reduced even more. The misuse of pasture areas, that are of great significance in terms of livestock sector, is going to increase Turkey’s already existing fodder dependency on foreign sources.
As stated in the Red Meat Strategy published by General Directorate of Livestock under the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Turkey is dependent on the import terms of 40-45% of its fodder raw materials.
Fodder deficit is 20 million tons
According to the Red Meat Strategy, fodder cost in stockbreeding constitutes 25-40% of total inputs. Both coarse fodder production and mixed feed production are inadequate in Turkey. Because 40-45% of the mixed feed is dependent on imported fodder raw materials, mixed feed costs increase. This situation influences red meat production costs negatively. The proportion of coarse fodder used in stockbreeding has to be increased for more efficient stockbreeding and for cheaper meat production. Of the total 73,600,000 tons of coarse fodder need, only 58,600,000 tons is supplied by grasslands, pastures, forage plants, silage, garden meadows and straw. The coarse fodder deficit is 15,000,00ß tons. As for the mixed feed, the situation does not look bright, either. Of the total 14,100,000 tons of mixed feed need, only 9,100,000 tons can be supplied. Hence, the mixed feed deficit is 5,000,000 tons.
According to the evidence provided by the ministry, in Turkey, coarse fodders are supplied by three primary sources: grass and pastures, forage plants, and remnants of plant production. Existing pasture areas have been substantially diminished, damaged and weakened. It is of vital importance to improve pasture areas and to prevent them from being misused.
Consumers are going to purchase meat and milk at higher prices
Taking that picture into consideration, danger bells start to ring for the animal production sector after zoning pasture areas for construction. It is also predicted that people will leave the agriculture and stockbreeding sectors due to the transformation of transforming villages into neighborhoods. Not only do producers face risk, but also consumers as they are the ones who are exposed to the greatest danger. That is because with a decrease in fodder production foreign source dependency will increase as pasture areas get reduced. This, in turn, will increase the production costs of meat and milk. Consumers will have to purchase meat, milk and other animal products at higher prices.
As it is well known, with the advent of foreign-source-dependent livestock policy, especially since 2010, Turkey has increased imports of all kinds of animal products, cattle and small cattle livestock, calves for fattening, carcass meat, and animals for breeding. Turkey even had to import straw for a while.
The current policies do not support production but increase imports. To a large extent, these policies cause government aid and low-interest government loans to imports. The current policy functions to transfer domestic resources abroad.
An enterpreneur who has been given low-interest government loans for making investment has to import livestock because there is not a sufficient number of animals in the country. Likewise, because of inadequate pasture areas and insufficient fodder production, the enterpreneur in question has to import fodder, too. In 2015, three billion Turkish liras of government support for stockbreeding also went to imports for the same reasons. That is to say, Turkey’s annual support for stockbreeding is three billion Turkish liras while it pays three billion dollars just for importing fodder. In this case, three times what the government pays in support are given to imports.
In conclusion, while Turkey assigns its pasture areas to industry, tourism and mass housing on the one hand, it imports billion of dollars worth of fodder raw materials on the other. Turkey even imports straw. It is impossible to support sustainable stockbreeding with such a policy. Turkey must stop following the import-oriented livestock policy and increase its own production in livestock. In accordance with this, the misuse of pasture areas have to be prevented. The locating of pastures should be completed. Then the pastures have to be improved and made possible for breeders to use. Grass should grow on pastures, not housing projects nor facilities.
1 In this article, I have made use of the paper entitled “Protecting Our Grass and Pasture, and Changes in their Use and Recent Developments” by Cafer Olcayto Sabancı and Tamer Yavuz of Ahi Evran University, Department of Field Crops, presented in the VIII. Technical Congress organized as part of the Agriculture Week 2015/Agricultural Engineers Chamber.
* “Devlet malı deniz, yemeyen domuz.”