CHP warns of a food crisis in Turkey, urges an intervention in fertilizer prices

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Republican People's Party (CHP) Niğde MP Ömer Fethi Gürer has announced that while the price of urea fertilizers was 1,800 Turkish Lira (TRY) and that of the diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizers was 2,200 TRY last year, both have increased to 14,700 TRY today.

Recalling that both types of fertilizers must definitely be used in order to ensure crop yields, the main opposition MP has said that several farmers used little fertilizer, if any, this year due to increasing prices.

Gürer has underlined that farmers no longer have the means to buy fertilizers in the face of the prices increasing on a daily basis.

He has said, "Just as the Soil Crops Office (TMO) imported wheat for 4,700 TRY and sold it to industrialists for 2,650 TRY in the domestic market, an intervention must also be made in fertilizers. A discount which would enable farmers to use fertilizers must definitely be introduced."

CHP's Ömer Fethi Gürer has also underlined that fertilizers directly affect plant production, legumes, grains and fruits, warning that if no fertilizers are used in this process, it will lead to a loss of crops and if no agricultural products are imported, it may lead to a food crisis in Turkey.

Gürer has recalled that not enough fertilizers were used in agricultural fields in Turkey in October due to the spike in fertilizer prices, indicating that a possible loss of crops may be reduced by half if enough fertilizers can be used for soil, seeds and plants in February and in spring.

The MP has emphasized that in addition to the unfavorable conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and drought, the increase in fertilizer prices may also lead to a food crisis in the country.

"I am making a call to the President, the Minister of Treasury and Finance, the Minister of Trade and the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry: If no intervention is made in the prices of fertilizers, Turkey may enter a problematic and difficult process in food in the coming period," he has said. (KÖ/SD)