Farm exporters warning: It’s only a matter of time before it becomes a national security issue

Speaking at the 2022 export performance assessment meeting of the Aegean Exporters Associations in İzmir, Turkey Exporters Assembly (TİM) Board Member Birol Celep said: “While there were 42 million hectares of agricultural land in Turkey in 1990, this figure is 37 million in 2021. .ha decreased. Turkey has lost 5 million hectares of agricultural land in 30 years. It is only a matter of time before agriculture becomes a ‘national security’ issue.

Celep said that the pandemic process and the recent Ukraine-Russia crisis reveal the strategic and vital importance of achieving adequate and healthy nutrition.

‘THE EXPORTER AND THE FARMERS ARE STRONG’

Expressing that the problem of the producer is also the problem of the consumer and of the nation, Celep said that “global and local inflation, which has increased its impact, especially since the beginning of 2021, and the enormous increases in the prices of inputs are among the most important problems. against agricultural production in our country”.

“In addition, the impossibility of exporting at competitive rates and the lack of access to financing puts our exporters and farmers in a difficult situation,” Celep continued as follows:

“Especially in a period in which inflationary pressure is more evident in global and local markets, the failure to pay agricultural support on time makes producers and farmers working in the agricultural sector, which continues to be an important source of income and employment for Turkey, move. far from the ground.”