ANKARA – Turkish Food, Agriculture & Animal Breeding Ministry will export five million ovine and one million bovine animals to Saudi Arabia. The ministry stated Friday that a Saudi delegation surveyed the breeding farms in Ankara, Konya, Gaziantep, Mersin, Adana, Hatay-Iskenderun and Izmir following a meeting between Turkish and Saudi agriculture ministers in Istanbul. The delegation also visited the laboratories in Turkey, and said that the facilities in Turkey were very good, and that they would like to benefit from Turkey's experiences in agriculture. Turkey sees animal breeding as a “strategic sector.” The number of bovine animals increased 26 percent from 9.9 million to 12.5 million in the past 10 years, while ovine animals rose to 32.3 million, thus, Turkey's total meat production increased 85 percent from 420,000 tons to 777,000 tons. — SG/Agencies
