Evaluation of Self-Sufficiency in Lentil Production in Turkey

Lentil in the legume family, with vegetable protein and minerals it contains, is a high nutritional value product. Also it is a healthy nutritional source with its low calorie level. Therefore the lentil production and the self-suffiency level is a very important issue for Turkey as it is for many other countries. Nevertheless, while in the past Turkey was one of the leading countries in the production and export of lentil; the production gradually decreased and in 1994 for the first time lentil was imported. In the later years, the lentil production gradually decreased and import gradually increased in Turkey. In this study, the lentil production area and production, consumption, export, import and the prices in the last eleven years (2005-2015) were evaluated; the developments were shown with the method of chain index because the fluctuation intensity in the period was different. In the context both red lentil and green lentil are included. The trend analysis done with the data of the last sixteen years (2000-2015) in order to predict future trends in terms of self-sufficiency. According to the results of analysis, the production will decrease, export will remain stable, but consumption and import will increase.