Private Saudi firm Planet Food World (PFWC) will invest around $3 billion in agriculture in Turkey over the next five years to export food products to the Gulf region, the head of its Turkish unit said.

PFWC wants to build 20,000 industrial farms over the next five years, Mete Mutluoglu was quoted as saying in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Each farm is seen at 10,000 sq mt and will raise vegetables and fruits as well as having fish, poultry, sheep and cattle-raising facilities. PFWC's total land usage in Turkey is seen at 200 sq km, he said yesterday.

'This may all be increased, if it is possible. Most of the exports will go to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula ... though we would also like to export to Russia and Europe,” Mutluoglu added.

He said turnover from the activities may be in the range of $20bn in five years for the agricultural goods and could go even higher when additional planned food and animal-processing plants are functioning.

Gulf investors have turned to Turkey's large swaths of arable land as a destination for agriculture investment, seen totalling billions of dollars in the next few years, in order to secure food resources for their populations.

Saudi Arabian firms have been looking abroad to grow food for the country and Gulf region. PFWC also has a project in Ethiopia, while others are looking at Tanzania and Sudan.

PFWC, which is registered in the US, will bring its first five prototype farms on line next week in northwestern Turkey. – TradeArabia News Service