TZOB President Şemsi Bayraktar: ‘Farmers have difficulty in paying’
Şemsi Bayraktar, Chairman of the Union of Chambers of Agriculture of Turkey (TZOB), stated that Turkey is among the luckiest countries in terms of agricultural potential in the message he published on the occasion of “May 14 World Farmers Day”.
Noting that the manufacturer has been going through difficult times recently, Bayraktar,He stated that the Turkish farmer continues to produce in the face of difficulties such as the Covid-19 epidemic and natural disasters.
Pointing out that the increase in input costs harms the producers, Bayraktar made the following assessment:
‘HE LEARNED THAT A BUILDING CANNOT BE CONSTRUCTED ON AGRICULTURAL LANDS’
“Our producers struggled to prevent their people from consuming much more expensive food by producing more in an environment where increasing input prices increased costs. While our country was struggling with all these, it encountered an earthquake disaster that indirectly affected 6 of our 11 provinces in the past months. “Our producers in the earthquake zone, which has an important place to affect its quality, did not leave their land. Turkey learned a very important lesson from the earthquakes and learned that no buildings can be built on agricultural lands.”
Emphasizing that farmers ensure food security, Bayraktar said, “For this, we have to support our farmers. If our farmer wins, the country wins. There is a need for state policies that put the farmer in the center. The government policies to be implemented in the agricultural sector should not change according to the changing governments and ministers, but should be permanent.”
Bayraktar underlined the need for planning to increase the production of products with a supply deficit, pointing to the importance of increasing productivity.
Stating that the biggest problem of the farmer is the high production costs, Bayraktar noted that the costs are reflected to the consumers as well, and that this situation causes the demand for agricultural products to decrease.
Bayraktar stated that the wheat producer is waiting for the intervention purchase price to be announced and that the price increase should not be below the inflation rate.
Pointing out that the sustainability of milk production should be ensured, Bayraktar argued that milk/feed parity should be kept around 1.5.
“AGRICULTURE BAG-KUR PREMIS SHOULD BE REDUCED”
Bayraktar pointed out that the continuation of agricultural production by farmers is closely related to the provision of social security and used the following statements:
“For sustainability, our farmers’ social security conditions should be improved. Agricultural Bağ-Kur premiums should be reduced. Although our farmers earn one third of the country’s average income per capita, they have to pay high premiums. Our farmers have difficulty paying because their premium debts are still too high. SSI premiums are more “Our farmers, who have earned the right to retire by paying premiums for 9,000 days, that is, 25 years, should be able to retire by paying premiums for 20 years like other insurance holders. This injustice should be eliminated and the number of premium payment days should be reduced.”
Celebrating the “14 May World Farmers’ Day” of farmers, Bayraktar wished that the President and 28th Term Deputy General Elections to be held tomorrow would also be beneficial for the country and the nation.
