Turkey (Türkiye) Country Book

Last update: December 2025

This page contains information about some of the data available in the FEWS NET Data Explorer (FDE) for Turkey (Türkiye). This is not a comprehensive guide.

For information about using the filters and fields for specific topics in the FDE, see Explore Data.

Summary table

Acknowledgements

The Turkey/Türkiye crop dataset found in the FEWS NET Data Warehouse, and this Country Data Book publication are a joint effort of the United States Department of State-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission-managed HarvestStat Middle East/North Africa (MENA). HarvestStat MENA provides datasets of subnational crop data for 10 countries across the Middle East and North Africa in formats that are interoperable with the FEWS Data Warehouse and ready for academic analysis. For additional information, please refer to the HarvestStat vision paper, the HarvestStat website, and the FEWS Data Explorer Knowledge Base.

Country food security context

Statistical reporting units

Turkey officially changed its name to Türkiye at the United Nations in June 2022. The change is less of a name change and more of an official adoption of the name that has been used internally since the republic's founding in 1923, in an effort to align its international English name with its Turkish one. 

Turkey (Türkiye) usually uses administrative units as their statistical reporting units.

There are three principal levels of administrative divisions in Türkiye. 

Admin 1: Province (il), of which there are currently 81.

Admin 2: District (ilçe), currently 973 in number.

Admin 3: Local government entities, of which there are municipalities (belediye), villages (köy) and greater municipalities (büyükşehir belediyesi) inside of large urban municipalities.

Geographic regions: There are also twelve geographical regions of Türkiye (bölge) which were originally defined at the country's First Geography Congress in 1941. Regions, as defined in this context, are merely for geographic, demographic, and economic purposes and do not refer to an administrative division.

Crop data

Explore our crop data.

Crop estimate data sources

Turkish crop statistics are found in an online database managed by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat)/Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu'nun (TÜİK) and disseminated through the Central Dissemination System/MEDAS (English-language version). 

To download crop statistics from the Central Dissemination System, use the following:

• Subject: Crop Production Statistics

• Measurement: Choose what is relevant, such as Cereals and other crop products or Vegetables

• Dimensions: Choose optional dimensions if desired then click Ok.

  • Product characteristics: Includes options like Sown area and Production quantity. Choose at least one.

  • Crop: Choose at least one.

  • Measurement Unit: Includes options like Decare and Tonne. Choose at least one.

• Click Add measurements. Review selections and click Forward.

• Time: Choose a relevant time frame. Click Forward.

• Region: Choose a region type, then select relevant regions. Click Create Report.

• You can view the table on the screen or download the report as a .csv or .xls file.

Crop reporting units

A user of official Turkish crop statistics (2004 to present) has a choice of several spatial sub-divisions of the national crop statistics database (see below, and the Central Dissemination System/MEDAS English-language version).

FEWS NET Data Warehouse crop data for Türkiye draws from this website’s (and a precursor site) Province-level database, which comprises the 81 provinces of the country as the framework for the sub-national crop statistics.  

There are four other crop statistics databases available here, all using the Eurostat NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) statistical standard, a hierarchical system of statistical regions used by the European Union for collecting data, conducting socio-economic analyses, and framing regional policies like cohesion policy. This system is based on population thresholds and divides territories into three main levels: NUTS 1 (major regions), NUTS 2 (basic regions for policy), and NUTS 3 (small regions for specific analysis).  

For Türkiye, NUTS 1 sub-divides the country into the 12 geographic units briefly described above. NUTS 2-level units comprise 26 territorial units, most of them grouping more than one province. NUTS 3-level crop statistics are equivalent to the Province-level described above.  NUTS 4-level local data are divided into 974 districts that together comprise the 81 provinces.  NUTS 4-level data can only be downloaded province-by-province, by NUTS 3-level units.

Evolution of Administrative and Crop Statistic Reporting Units

Between the date of the official establishment of the Republic of Türkiye on 29 October 1923, and 1957, provinces were added to the administrative system, resulting in the 67 province line-up shown below, with corresponding province automobile license plate codes.

Provinces added each year are as follows:

• 1989: Aksaray (TR68), Bayburt (TR69), Karaman (TR70), and Kırıkkale (TR71)

• 1990: Batman (TR72) and Şırnak (TR73)

• 1991: Bartın (TR74)

• 1992: Ardahan (TR75) and Iğdır (TR76)

• 1995: Yalova (TR77), Karabük (TR78), and Kilis (TR79)

• 1996: Osmaniye (TR80)

• 1999: Düzce (TR81)

No changes have occurred since. 

Table 1: Provinces

Year and season definition

Year definition

The agricultural cropping/reporting year in Türkiye runs between October 1 and September 30 of the next year.   

Seasons

In general, Türkiye experiences four agricultural seasons during its agricultural cropping year:

• Autumn: September - November

• Winter: December - February

• Spring: March - May

• Summer: June - August

At the regional and local levels, there is significant climate variation due to Türkiye’s continental and maritime exposures and its varied topography. 

Spring is the season of planting for many crops. Summer is generally characterized by crop growth and development, and Autumn is the harvest season, when most crops are gathered. Wheat and barley are the major winter season crops, being planted as early as September in one year, and harvested as late as August in the next.  

A notable exception to one main season crop is found in the Mediterranean Region of Türkiye. There, maize can be cultivated twice a year between March and October. The first maize growing season starts from March to June, followed by the second cropping season from June/July to October.

Table 2: Seasonal definitions

Crop Calendar

Primary crops

Table 3: Turkish crops in the FEWS Data Warehouse

Production systems

Turkish crop statistics carry no additional crop production system (e.g. rainfed, irrigated, etc.) information.  

Crop statistics context

Turkish crop statistics available from the source described above cover a period between 2004 and the present. A source for earlier crop statistics has not been identified.

Area sown and area harvested data is given in decare units, which is 1/10th of a hectare.  Production quantity is given in tonnes.

Quarterly data on agricultural production and on cultivated land are compiled by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in a Quarterly Production of Field Crops, Quarterly Production of Fruits and Quarterly Production of Vegetables. The data generated in these reports is then used by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) to compile yearly reports and two annual estimations (first in May, second in October) that offer a comprehensive overview of the agricultural year.  

Summary national crop statistics for the most recent 3 years may be found on the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry website.

Methodology

TurkStat is responsible for data processing, evaluation, publication and dissemination of agricultural statistics. But pursuant to Decree Law No. 639 on the Organisation and Tasks of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MoFAL), annual data collection for crop production and animal production statistics and monthly agricultural price statistics are performed by the Province and District. 

MoFAL and TurkStat have a long tradition of cooperation for the production of agricultural statistics. There are 2,200,000 agricultural holdings according to the Farmers Registry System (FRS). Within MoFAL, the Geographical Information Systems Department under the General Directorate of Agricultural Reform (GDAR) is assigned with the task of collecting agricultural data. For this purpose, the Statistical Data Network (SDN), a web-based data system for data collection, has been established by MoFAL and the 81 Province and 903 District Directorates enter data into this system.  SDN data is jointly analysed by MoFAL and TurkStat, and published by TurkStat.