Farmers: We are Worried, Like Everyone

* Photo: tr.undp.org

Click to read the article in Turkish

Causing more and more cases and losses of life in Turkey, new coronavirus (Covid-19) is also driving agricultural sector into a crisis.

Preparing to make production, some farmers cannot plant seeds and seedlings due to quarantine, others cannot find workers for harvest.

Speaking to bianet, agricultural producers say that the conditions have got harder and their expenses have increased. They complain that no road map, no course of action has been set for them. 

Expressing their concerns about reaping, distributing and selling crops, if not planting them, farmers say that the harvest is uncertain for now.

CLICK - 'If We Cannot Ensure Planting, a Crisis Might Arise'

'We don't know how we will reap tea this year'

One of these farmers is Saltuk Deniz, the Rize Provincial Chair of the Republican People's Party (CHP). He is also a tea producer. He says that workers have not come to Turkey's Black Sea province for the harvest season, complaining that the state does not stand by agricultural producers:

"The harvest season for tea is about to open. However, as no agricultural workers have come to Rize from other places, everyone has a question mark in mind. Producers don't know how they will reap the crop for now. It is also not certain what factories will do. [The state-run tea company] Çaykur has not yet made a statement to the producer.

"If no workers come from outside, who will reap the tea? How will it work in a period when one needs to keep social distance? We are going through a process when questions are very ambiguous and their addressee is not in sight. There is no one to answer our questions.

"Under these circumstances, tea producers have to reap their own crop. They say, 'Don't reap the first offshoot.' But what about our loss if tea won't be harvested? It is a process that continues till October. OK, say, we leave the first crop in the field, then, what about the others?

"Tea is the major source of income for the people in the region. Will the state guarantee it? We want the state to give security to the farmer even if they will not reap tea. The state must stand by the farmer by taking the necessary measure so that we can survive this period of crisis."

'We don't know what we will do after a month or so'

Şaban Burhan also talks about his difficulties in finding workers, like tea producers in Rize. Noting that they grown all seasonal vegetables on a 280-decare field, Burhan says:

"People don't go out as they are afraid of the coronavirus. We would normally work with 10 workers a day, this number has now dropped to four. As the harvest is to be done on a wide area, we keep social distance. We can easily work by keeping a distance of 2 meters.

"But, we will certainly have problems in planting the vegetables for summer season. Because there are products that we plant every 60 centimeters. We might have to work side by side.

"As the number of workers has dropped, we make workers work for two more hours a day and pay them half their daily wage for this extra work, which has led to an increase in reaping costs. As there is also a decrease in consumption, we might have trouble in the upcoming period.

"Besides, if we have this problem in a period when we need workers the least, I don't know what we will do if the crisis continues one or two months. We are naturally worried about our future, like everyone else."

'We cannot bring our crops to the market'

Another farmer who shares his concerns with us is Süleyman Sertkaya. He says that they distribute their own crops and they are now having difficulties as they cannot bring the crop to the market:

"We are doing organic farming. We carry our crops to bazaars ourselves. Our fields are in Afyon, but we constantly go to big cities. Fellow farmers cannot go to the bazaar in the last couple of weeks.

"We can produce our crops, but we cannot sell them. The season for planting is approaching. We produce our own seeds and seedlings, but not all farmers are the same. The farmer will have to go out and purchase seeds and seedlings. There are people who cannot go and buy them. Not every place has cooperatives.

"Now, entries and exits from cities have been banned. We don't know how it will work out. If we cannot carry our products to the market, it means that we cannot pay the workers who produce the crop that we will harvest.

"There is a great uncertainty in the sector for now. We are waiting in worry." (HA/SD)