TEMA Warns Türkiye Pasture Loss Raises Feed-Cost Risk

By Bosphorus News Economy Desk

The TEMA Foundation, one of Türkiye's leading environmental civil society groups, warned that the country has lost more than half of its pastureland over the past 65 years, tying the decline to weaker grazing capacity, higher feed pressure and rising drought exposure in rural production.

The foundation said Türkiye's pastureland fell from about 29 million hectares in 1960 to nearly 13 million hectares today, a 54 percent loss. It also said about 70 percent of remaining pasture areas are degraded, low-yield or stripped of healthy vegetation, limiting their ability to support livestock and protect soil.

The warning was issued ahead of June 17, World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, and during the United Nations' 2026 International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. The United Nations is placing rangelands at the center of this year's desertification agenda, under the theme "Rangelands: Recognize. Respect. Restore."

Türkiye's Agriculture and Forestry Ministry data also show the long decline in pastureland. The ministry's figures list pastureland at 21.7 million hectares in 1970, while current official records show 13.3 million hectares under identified pasture areas.

The pasture file is not only an environmental issue. Türkiye's livestock sector depends on grazing land and roughage supply, and degraded pastures push more pressure onto purchased feed, one of the cost lines already weighing on meat and dairy production.

TEMA called for stronger pasture protection, restoration of degraded areas and tighter control over land-use changes that remove grazing areas from agricultural production. For Türkiye, the issue sits directly inside the country's wider food-security debate, where drought, feed costs and rural production capacity are already moving together.

Sources: TEMA Foundation, Türkiye's Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, United Nations, FAO, Bosphorus News review and reporting.