‘Turkey is on the brink of a wheat, bread crisis; support farmers’

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has submitted a legislative proposal to the Parliament and requested that half of the diesel fuel and fertilizer costs of farmers be met from the state budget as an incentive to encourage them for wheat production in the face of a possible "wheat crisis".

Before submitting the proposal, HDP Diyarbakır MP and Vice Co-Chair Responsible for Economy Garo Paylan held a press conference at the Parliament today (March 3). Paylan talked about the HDP's legislative proposal and the risks faced by agricultural production in Turkey.

'Bread prices may increase to 7 lira

Addressing the reporters, HDP's Garo Paylan said that due to the "wrong economy policies" of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey is dependent on other countries. He underlined that Turkey is not a self-sufficient country in terms of wheat production and recalled that more than 10 million tons of wheat are imported every year.

He stressed that 90 percent of this import is done from Russia and Ukraine, two neighboring countries currently at war.

"We are faced with the risk of not being able to import wheat this year," HDP Vice Co-Chair Paylan warned, noting that the price of wheat in dollars has doubled in international markets. The MP explained that "if the Turkish Grain Board is to import a ton of wheat, it cannot be imported even for 10 thousand lira while it was imported for 4-5 thousand lira last year."

According to Paylan, "it also means that the price of a sack of flour will increase to 700-800 lira and the price of a loaf of bread will increase to 6-7 lira" from its current price of 3 lira on average. Paylan said, "Our country is foreign dependent and we have to end this dependence."

Farmers' economic hardships

Further in his speech, Garo Paylan also criticized Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli. Noting that "there are millions of hectares of land awaiting to be planted in Turkey, but they cannot be planted," HDP Vice Co-Chair Paylan shared the following information:

They cannot be planted because fertilizer prices have tripled, quadrupled compared to last year. Farmers could not topdress their fields. If they do not topdress, the crops do not come into ear. The price of a liter of diesel fuel, one of the main inputs of farmers, has increased by 160 percent in a year. While a liter of diesel cost 6 lira last year, it now costs 17 lira. Its price will even increase to 18 lira following the price increase to enter into effect at midnight. All in all, farmers cannot topdress their fields, they cannot use their tractors. While they are in this condition, what does the Agriculture Minister do? I swear that he does nothing.

'Prices have quintupled'

Against the backdrop of this data, Paylan asked, "In this case, we will be unable to import sufficient amounts of wheat and farmers have not planted enough. What will happen then?" Noting that Turkey is faced with a wheat and bread crisis, the MP briefly added the following:

The government must stop this inattention as soon as possible, but it does not. It does not take the necessary measures. The Parliament must take responsibility. We have prepared a legislative proposal. We say, 'Let's meet half of the farmers' diesel and fertilizer costs from the state budget.' If a farmer cannot topdress his or her field now and if the prices of fertilizers have increased from 2 to 9-10 thousand lira, we have to meet half of this cost from the state budget.

Recalling that AKP's Binali Yıldırım promised this 4-5 years ago, but did not keep his promise, HDP Vice Co-Chair Garo Paylan said that the issue at hand is a "matter of survival" and raised concerns that "we have not seen such a wheat crisis since the Second World War."

"Prices were high, but we did not face a wheat crisis," Paylan emphasized, adding that "70 years after the Second World War, Turkey is faced with the risk of a new wheat crisis under the AKP rule."

Paylan said, "The only way to reduce the inflation is to enable farmers to plant. We will put out this fire by enabling farmers to plant. Otherwise, the exorbitant food prices will continue and our citizens will face a food crisis."

Turkey as an importer of wheat

In fact, Turkey is the largest importer of agricultural products from Russia. Turkey's total import of agricultural products from Russia stood at 4.3 billion USD. As for the agricultural product imported from Russia the most, it is wheat. In 2021, Turkey imported 6.7 million tons of wheat for 1.8 billion USD. However, Russia is not the only country. Ukraine ranks second.

According to the data of the Trade Ministry, 64.6 percent of Turkey's wheat import is from Russia while 13.4 percent is from Ukraine.

CLICK - Russia-Ukraine war: How will it affect Turkey's economy?

(HA/SD)