Upside risk of drought in food prices
Despite the end of January, the expected rains did not arrive and there was a danger of a decrease in the yield of many products, from cereals to vegetables and fruits throughout the country.
Honey production is also negatively affected by drought damage to bee colonies, and further increases in honey prices are expected with the effect of drought following diesel prices.
Explaining that the agricultural drought is getting deeper every year, the farmers’ unions predicted that even if the expected rains arrive, they may be insufficient, and this will trigger the already high inflation of food and push prices even higher.
THE FIRST RISK IS IN WHEAT, BARLEY, LENTILS AND FRUITS
Speaking to Sozcu.com.tr, the president of TMMOB’s Chamber of Agricultural Engineers (ZMO), Baki Remzi Suiçmez, explained that it is not yet known how much this year’s drought will affect which crops, but wheat production, barley and lentils will be negatively affected by the winter. crops.
Suiçmez said: “Even if there is rainfall in these three crops, yield reduction is on the agenda,” Suiçmez said.
Suiçmez also claimed that high temperatures cause fruit trees to flower by creating a false spring effect, saying: “Serious fruit bloom problems can occur. Snow will surely fall. At that stage, the risk of frost on early-germinating field produce or fruit and the resulting decline in yield may also come to the fore.
Noting that all this will put upward pressure on food prices, Suiçmez said: “Drought is not the only culprit behind food inflation, but the input index announced by TUIK and agricultural PPI data are already they are very tall. This indicates that food prices will remain high even if there is no drought. The drought will trigger new price rises due to the gap in the food supply.
LANDINGS EXPECTED TO BE DESTROYED IN 5 PRODUCTS
Speaking to Sozcu.com.tr, the president of the TZOB-affiliated Gaziantep Chamber of Agriculture Şahinbey, Ali Çolak, stated that the groundwater could not be enriched due to the rains that did not fall in January, so the growing areas of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and beans grown in open areas narrowed. I told him it was a risk.
Çolak said: “The decrease in plantation areas means an increase in market prices.”
Stating that there is almost no rain in January, Çolak said, “The rainfall per square meter in Gaziantep so far is around 130-150 kilograms. Normally, I should have weighed between 350 and 320 kilos,” he said.
‘CENTURAL PISTACHIO TREES ARE DRYING DOWN’
Çolak said: “Our hundred-year-old pistachios 100 meters from the Euphrates are about to dry up” and made the following suggestion:
“The farmer cannot get water from the Euphrates by his own means. We demand that the state make a project as soon as possible and unite the water of the Euphrates with the land of all the provinces”.
‘THE FERTILIZER ACROSS THE WHEAT FIELDS WAS A WASTE’
The drought also leaves the farmer in a dilemma as to whether or not to fertilize his fields.
Çolak said that if it does not rain, the fertilizer that is thrown away is useless, on the contrary, it can burn the product: “Farmers are quite nervous. He is afraid of making a loss when he says, “Let’s add fertilizer and increase the yield,” he said.
Explaining that the manure dilemma experienced by the farmer also started in Adana, Adana Yüreğir Chamber of Agriculture Chairman Mehmet Akın Doğan said, “Manure was thrown in wheat fields on uneven ground last week, but when it didn’t rain, there was a concern. that the ‘compost was wasted’”.
SUNFLOWER PRODUCTION IS ALSO IN DANGER IN ADANA
Dogan said that although there is no damage yet, the wheat and sunflower crops will be at risk.
Stating that there is still no loss in both products, Doğan said that if the expected precipitation does not come next week, wheat production will be at risk, and if there is no expected precipitation in February and March, sunflower production will be at risk. .
INCLUDES THEIR PRICES WITH THE PRODUCTION OF HONEY
Giving information to Sozcu.com.tr, the President of the Turkish Central Beekeeping Union (TAB), Ziya Şahin, said that the drought has negative effects on bee colonies.
Noting that 80-85 percent of beekeeping in Turkey is carried out under erratic conditions, thus they are negatively affected by high diesel prices, Şahin said that there is a severe drought and this will hurt the beekeepers.
Expressing that this will also significantly affect prices, Şahin continued as follows:
“While the cost of a kilogram of honey was 78 TL in June last year, now it is 90-95 TL. With the effect of the drought, our damage will increase with deaths in the bee colonies. Perhaps the expected rainfall will fall and the negative effect of the drought will be eliminated. However, the expectation is that production will decrease this year. This will increase the prices of honey.”