Sunday, 27 September 2026
Türkiye is set to channel $750m of World Bank financing into the modernisation of its agrifood economy, with investment expected across processing, storage, temperature-controlled supply chains and logistics as well as agricultural technology and production. The programme is designed to improve access to longer-term capital for farmers, producer organisations and agrifood companies while encouraging additional private investment.
The Türkiye Agrifood Sector Transformation for Rural Jobs and Growth project, known as TARGET, will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry together with the Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution, TKDK. Turkish government information confirms that the World Bank financing has been approved and says the package takes the country’s long-term external financing secured from the bank across all sectors during 2026 to more than $9bn.
Most of the programme will operate through a $720m financing facility providing longer-term capital for investments by agrifood businesses and producer organisations. Projects can include processing and storage capacity, cold-chain infrastructure, logistics systems and equipment, alongside investments intended to improve productivity, food quality, climate resilience and access to domestic and export markets. The World Bank expects investments supported through this facility to attract another $144m of private co-financing.
A separate $30m component will support a credit-guarantee mechanism intended to make it easier for farmers to obtain commercial bank financing. By absorbing part of the lending risk, the mechanism is expected to facilitate approximately $526m of additional commercial lending for agricultural modernisation, productivity improvements and technologies designed to cope with changing climate conditions.
Together, the two financing mechanisms are expected to mobilise around $670m of private capital in addition to the World Bank package. This could bring the combined financing associated with TARGET to more than $1.4bn, although only part of that capital will be directed towards physical property and infrastructure. Investment will also cover machinery, technology, production systems and other improvements across agricultural supply chains.
The programme is expected to reach approximately 225,000 farmers by 2032. The World Bank estimates that around 193,000 could participate in improved commercial arrangements while approximately 26,300 are expected to gain better access to finance. TARGET is also projected to support around 110,000 additional or better-paid jobs across Türkiye’s agrifood economy, including employment in less-developed regions. These figures represent programme targets rather than employment or investment already delivered.
For Türkiye’s industrial and logistics property markets, the financing creates opportunities beyond agricultural production itself. Expanding food processing, refrigerated warehousing and storage closer to production areas could generate demand for specialised facilities outside the country’s established logistics centres. Better infrastructure could also reduce losses between farms and consumers while allowing producers to reach larger domestic and international markets.
TARGET is also the first operation under the World Bank Group’s wider AgriConnect initiative for Europe and Central Asia. For Türkiye, the immediate significance is the creation of a large financing platform connecting international capital, commercial banks and private investment with the physical and technological modernisation of the country’s agrifood supply chain.
