BIOECONOMY AND/OR BIOTECHNOLOGY: LIMITED IMPROVEMENTS IN TURKEY

Abstract

Organic farming sector, on the way of sustainability and integration with bioeconomy, has some radical changes in the world. One of the causes for the emerging of bioeconomy is "self-sufficiency for food". Bioeconomy consists of bio-goods (energy, medicine, etc.) produced through existing and new technologies and processes. It can provide many environmental benefits like the decrease of greenhouse gas, the slow-down of global warming, biological variety etc. Biotechnology, considered as a part of bioeconomy, can be defined with four colors: Red (medical), blue (hydrologic), green (agricultural) and white (industrial). Today in OECD countries, 75 % of the potential economic contribution of bio-technology has realized in agriculture and industry. In USA, EU and a lot of countries the number of bio-tech companies is gradually rising; and goods of these companies especially in supermarkets and pharmacies stimulate consumer demand and the endorsement of these companies is exceeding trillions of dollars. Turkey cannot turn away from this "bioeconomic revolution". Turkey still is not a competitive country in bioeconomy and biotechnology areas. So, Turkey should include bioeconomy investments in long-term development plans and strategies