‘Do not victimize the farmer’ warning after flood in Antalya

The president of the Kumluca Chamber of Agriculture, Hidayet Kökce, visited the farmers whose crops were damaged due to the flooding and obtained information about the works. Kökce met with farmers from the flood-affected Yeni, Göksu and Kum districts.

Kökce once again wished “get well soon” to farmers whose crops in greenhouses were damaged, saying that some people in metropolitan cities raised the prices of vegetables and fruits, using the flood as an excuse.

Noting that on December 12, when the flood occurred, tomatoes sold for 12 lira, peppers for 10 lira, eggplants and cucumbers for 9 lira, Kökce said: “Today, tomatoes cost 11 lira, peppers , eggplants and cucumbers cost 8 lira in our wholesale market. It is ruthless and unscrupulous to say ‘this is what happened in the flood’ when raising prices in metropolitan cities. We don’t want the farmer to be victimized by the flood, and we don’t want the farmer to be victimized by opportunists who want to make money behind his back,” he said.

ÇİFTÇİ AYDIN: WE ARE MANY VICTIMS DUE TO THE FLOOD

Mehmet Aydın, one of the farmers, also stated that after the flood, the products in the greenhouse began to dry out and deteriorate, and his efforts were in vain.

Stating that while they were in this situation, they found out that prices increased using the flood as an excuse in metropolitan cities like Istanbul, Aydın said, “We are already victims of the flood. Don’t victimize us and the consumers by using the flood as an excuse. There is a product on the market, they don’t buy it, then they raise the price saying ‘There is no product in Istanbul’.

Meanwhile, farmers whose greenhouses were damaged by the floods continue to work to save their crops, and some growers are trying to reduce the load on plants by thinning.

After heavy rains hit Antalya, flooding occurred in Kumluca, Finike and Demre districts, and many greenhouses and farmland were damaged in Kumluca, which is heavily involved in greenhouse agriculture.

(AA)