Moreover, the sweetener amounts are increased for the benefit of the sweetener producing companies and thus, the farmers' efforts are being undermined. The producers are furious!.
PANKOBIRLIK, the organization of farmers, has published full-paged statements in newspapers to show their reaction!.
Corn instead of sugar beets!
Corn is the basic, raw product of sweeteners. Turkey imports 73 percent of the corn it needs. Thus, it is dependent on imports for the raw product of sweeteners. But, sugar beets are grown in Turkey in adequate amounts. Growing sugar beets also provides millions of people with jobs.
Just because a couple of sweetener producing companies will benefit, sweeteners are allowed in the ratio of two percent. In Turkey the permitted ratio of sweeteners is ten percent.
Some 125,000 sugar beet producers have stopped growing sugar beets and have become jobless. The sweetener producer companies are now trying to push the sweetener ratio up to 15 percent.
This means that an addition of 50,000 sugar producers would lose their jobs. Moreover, the world is discussing whether sugar from sweeteners is healthy. But everyone knows that sugar produced from sugar beets is at least healthy.
From exports to imports in cotton-
Turkey once used to export cotton. Cotton consumption in Turkey is 1 million 300 thousand tons. But Turkey only produces 850,000 tons of cotton at the moment and imports 500,000 tons of cotton every year.
Turkey pays USD 600 million to import cotton.
Turkey's governments, instead of giving this money to its own cotton producers, prefers giving it to cotton producers in Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, United States, Bulgaria and Romania.
Expensive wheat
The Agriculture Ministry determined the price of wheat to be 310,000-325,000 Turkish lira (USD 0.22-0.24) per kilogram. Wheat producers reacted harshly.
Since the base price for wheat is less than the cost of producing it, Turkey began to import wheat.
Turkey imported 1 million 500 thousand tons of wheat last year.
2 million Turkish lira for hazelnut
Hazelnut producers had been expecting the price for hazelnut to be 3 million Turkish lira (USD 2.17). It was determined to be 2 million Turkish lira (USD 1.45). The producers protested. Now, they refuse to sell their hazelnut at that price.
Turkey is number one in hazelnut production. It produces 71 percent of the world's hazelnuts. Turkey is in a position to determine world hazelnut prices.
Imports instead of sunflowers
The farmers were expecting a price of at least 600,000 Turkish lira (USD 0.43) for sunflowers. It was determined to be 400,000 (USD 0.29). Sunflower producers are also furious!.
Turkey produces 600-650 tons of sunflowers used in producing cooking oil. It imports 200 thousand tons of sunflower, 112 thousand tons of raw oil.
332,000 Turkish lira costs, 213,000 selling price
Tekel has announced that it would buy grapes at 213, 000 Turkish lira (USD 0.15). The price is less than the cost of producing grapes. The producers are stunned!
According to experts the cost of growing grapes is 332, 000 Turkish lira (USD 0.24).
The world is the excuse
The government's excuse for setting low prices, is that prices in the world are very low.
Those who keep prices in the world low are pressuring the Turkish governments through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, to not support Turkish farmers.
Governments, which are under the control of IMF and the World Bank, determine prices that are less than the cost of production.
Because of these policies, Turkey has started importing things that it could have produced and even exported.
The farmers should find ways to organize and come together in unions, cooperation or agriculture chambers. If not, things will continue this way. (AA/NM/EA/NM)