Turkish Good Agricultural Practices (İTU) Regulation

What is the Turkish Good Agricultural Practices (İTU) Regulation?

Issued by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Good Agricultural Practices (İTU) Regulation is a national legal standard that promotes agricultural production without harming the environment, human, or animal health. Often considered the localized Turkish equivalent of the GlobalG.A.P. standard, İTU aims to conserve natural resources, ensure traceability in agriculture, and guarantee food safety. It protects not only the crops in the field but also the welfare of farm workers and the quality of the final product reaching the consumer, thereby creating a trust-based supply chain in the domestic market.

Key Technical Criteria of TR İTU Certification

Embracing the "farm to fork" concept, İTU ensures every step of the production process is documented. The technical framework can be summarized as follows:

• Food Safety and Traceability:

  • The seeds, seedlings, fertilizers, and agricultural chemicals (pesticides) used during production must be licensed and applied strictly within legal limits.

  • Every action taken in the field is documented in detail. The harvested product is fully traceable backward to prove which field it came from, who produced it, and what processes it underwent. Food safety is verified through pre-harvest residue analyses.

• Environment and Natural Resource Management:

  • Agriculture based on analysis, rather than guesswork, is mandatory. Fertilization and irrigation programs cannot be established without prior soil and water analyses.

  • The environmentally safe disposal of empty pesticide containers and agricultural waste, as well as the protection of groundwater and surface water sources from contamination, are subject to strict rules.

• Worker Health, Safety, and Welfare:

  • The social rights, hygienic living conditions, and first-aid facilities of agricultural workers are covered under the standard.

  • It is a legal requirement that workers handling agricultural spraying use protective equipment, receive necessary training, and undergo regular health checks.

Who this standard is for

İyi Tarım Uygulamaları (İTU, Turkish Good Agricultural Practices) is the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry GAP scheme for producers and producer groups who supply the Turkish domestic market (retail, processors, public procurement) under the national İTU regulation. It is not GLOBALG.A.P. and it is not organic. Export buyers that specify GLOBALG.A.P. IFA do not automatically accept İTU as equivalent.

What is certified

• Crop and, where the regulation allows, other primary-production scopes under the Turkish İTU rules
• Individual producers and producer groups registered in the ministry İTU system
• On-farm hygiene, plant-protection records, fertiliser use, harvest, and traceability required by İTU
• Labelling and certificate use for the Turkish domestic GAP claim

What this standard does not cover

• GLOBALG.A.P. IFA certification or automatic equivalence to IFA / GRASP
• Organic claims (TR organic, EU 2018/848, NOP)
• A substitute for export-retail specifications that name GLOBALG.A.P. or another private GAP
• Processing-plant food-safety schemes (BRCGS, IFS, ISO 22000) used as if they were farm İTU

Questions buyers and operators usually ask

Is İTU the Turkish version of GLOBALG.A.P.?

İTU is the national ministry scheme; GLOBALG.A.P. is a private international farm-assurance scheme. They both address good agricultural practice, but checklists, governance, options, and add-ons differ. A Turkish supermarket or public tender may require İTU. A European retailer that wrote GLOBALG.A.P. on the spec will usually not treat İTU as equivalent unless they have approved it in writing.

Do we still need İTU if we already have GLOBALG.A.P.?

For a domestic buyer or a tender that names İTU, yes unless that buyer has accepted GLOBALG.A.P. instead in the contract. Holding IFA does not automatically register you in the ministry İTU system or authorise the İTU logo. Map each customer’s required scheme; many export-oriented farms hold both.

Is İTU organic?

No. İTU allows conventional plant-protection products and fertilisers within its rules. Organic production in Türkiye is the separate ministry organic programme (Law 5262 framework). Do not print “organik” on the strength of an İTU certificate.

Who can be certified—only growers, or also packing?

The core is primary production. Packing or handling linked to the farm may be in the İTU file when the regulation and the application include it. A standalone industrial packhouse that only buys in is not automatically İTU because growers upstream are. Keep the legal producer, parcels, and any packing step aligned with the ministry registration.

What to have ready before the audit

• Ministry / İTU registration of the producer or group and the parcel list
• Crop plan, plant-protection and fertiliser records matching İTU rules
• Hygiene, harvest, and worker-safety records required by the regulation
• Traceability from parcel to delivered lot for domestic buyers
• Group QMS and internal controls if you apply as a producer group
• Clear artwork: İTU / iyi tarım claim only, no GLOBALG.A.P. or organic logo unless those certificates exist

Frequent findings

• Telling an EU retailer that İTU equals GLOBALG.A.P.
• Using the İTU certificate to support an organic label
• Parcels in production that are not in the ministry İTU registration
• Group members delivering claimed product without internal inspection
• Export PO that named GLOBALG.A.P. fulfilled with İTU documents only