Thousands of farmers across Turkey have had their livelihoods ravaged as so little rain has fallen to nourish their crops for the past two years. Some experts accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of failing to do enough to address pressing environmental issues in the country.
However, Erdogan has promised Turkey would ratify the 2015 Paris Agreement in October before a pivotal UN climate summit next month in Glasgow. Turkey signed the deal in 2016. Environmental issues had never topped the political agenda in Turkey, but everything changed after a summer of extreme weather events, including forest fires on the Mediterranean coast and devastating floods in the north.
Agriculture is a major sector of the Turkish economy, accounting for around 6 percent of GDP and employing 18 percent of the workforce. Turkey is self-sufficient in food production and is the world's seventh-largest agricultural producer, exporting everything from hazelnuts to tea, olives to figs.
According to france24.com, drought is forcing some farmers to quit while others opt to grow different crops that demand less water, leaving the consumer out of pocket as food prices rise alongside a weakening Turkish lira.