Farmers pay for climate shift alone

As COP31 opens in Antalya, Turkish farmer Mehmet Kabak is replacing cotton with wheat and sunflower on his drought-hit fields, Reuters reported. Those crops use less water and cost less to cultivate, while higher fuel and fertiliser bills have made irrigation more expensive. Turkey’s seed-cotton harvest is forecast to contract 38% year on year to 1.2 million metric tons in 2026, and farmers around Soke have reduced cotton-growing land by about 60%, to roughly 120,000 decares.

The challenge extends beyond crop choices: inefficient irrigation systems and limited access to finance make water-saving upgrades difficult, especially for farmers on rented land. Turkey plans to increase its 2027 allocation for land and water management by 40.5%, setting aside 174 billion lira for agricultural irrigation projects. Still, a World Bank assessment from 2022 estimated that a 10% fall in available water could reduce Turkey’s GDP by 6%, or approximately $50 billion, highlighting the economic stakes of adapting agriculture to climate pressures.