UN says quakes in Turkiye damaged 20% of food production

The 6 February earthquakes in southern Turkiye damaged 20 per cent of the country’s agricultural production, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

“Initial assessments on the impact in Turkiye indicate severe damage to agriculture, including crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as rural infrastructure in affected areas,” a statement said.

The FAO added that the earthquakes hit “11 key agricultural provinces, affecting 15.73 million people and more than 20 per cent of the country’s food production.”

The organisation also said that Turkiye’s “fertile crescent” accounts for nearly 15 per cent of agricultural GDP and contributes to almost 20 per cent of Turkiye’s agrifood exports.

“Initial assessments indicate significant impacts to agriculture, with preliminary estimates of $1.3 billion in damage and $5.1 billion in losses to the sector,” it added.

On 6 February, two powerful quakes struck southern Turkiye.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 tremors were centred in Kahramanmaras and rocked 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa and Elazig.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the tremors that struck in less than 10 hours.

More than 50,000 people were killed by the back-to-back quakes in Turkiye, according to the latest official figures. Thousands of others were injured.

READ: Erdogan, Earthquakes caused $104bn in damage