The massive earthquake that hit southern Turkey and neighboring Syria last February damaged more than 20 percent almost one-fifth of Turkey’s agricultural production, the UN’s food agency said Friday.
The 7.8-magnitude devastating earthquake that hit southern Turkey and neighboring Syria on February 6, and its aftershocks, killed more than 55,000 people and left many more in dire conditions.
UN’s food agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said initial assessments in Turkey revealed severe damage to agriculture, including crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as rural infrastructure in affected areas. The earthquake severely impacted 11 key agricultural provinces affecting 15.73 million people and more than 20 percent of the country’s food production.
The earthquake-affected region, known as Turkey’s ‘fertile crescent’, accounts for nearly 15 percent of agricultural GDP and contributes to almost 20 percent of Turkey’s agrifood exports.”
The statement added
It estimated the massive earthquake had caused $1.3 billion in damage, through the collapse of infrastructure, livestock, and crops, and $5.1 billion in losses to the agricultural sector.
When the earthquake hit, buildings collapsed, crops were damaged and animals were killed, but the resulting devastation also produced shortages of barns, food, and vaccines for livestock that survived. The shortage of workers is also having an impact, with particular circumstances as the summer harvest season draws closer.
The FAO is demanding $112 million to help quake-affected communities in Turkey, including $25 million under a wider UN plea issued in February to provide cash, livestock, and agricultural support to 900,000 people in rural areas.
FAO coordinator Viorel Gutu said that the planting season deadline is approaching. We need to urgently support our farmers by providing fertilizers and seeds. This is our only chance to maintain crop production levels this year. We also need to provide animals with feed to maintain their health and productivity.
The FAO said more than one-third of the population in the hardest-hit areas depended on agriculture to survive.
