Drought hit the countryside, crisis is at hand

In Turkey, which entered 2023 with severe drought conditions, agricultural production, especially of wheat, barley, lentils, sugar beets and cotton, is raising alarm. There is great concern in agricultural areas with rainfall decreasing by up to 75 percent compared to last year. If the weather conditions continue like this with the dangers of frost and flooding, food inflation, which was measured at 77.87 percent, is expected to increase even more in 2023 with the decrease in production. According to reports from the General Directorate of Meteorology, in December 2022 there is a 57 percent decrease in rainfall. In this arid climate, which affects all regions, the southeast took the hardest hit, where precipitation decreased by 75 percent, while December precipitation in the Eastern Anatolia Region fell to the lowest level in recent years. 27 years.

DATA LOSS

The president of the Chamber of Agronomists, Baki Remzi Suiçmez, pointed out this year that, under these conditions, there can be great losses of cereals and plant products, especially wheat, barley and lentils, “now it is necessary to carry out engineering studies that minimize the effects of drought by investing the budget in irrigation and agriculture, not in roads, toll bridges.” Suiçmez stated that there were yield losses in wheat, barley and lentils, but the rate could not yet be determined. Suiçmez stated that if the water from the dams is used for drinking water instead of irrigation, there will be yield loss in corn, sunflower, fodder crops and vegetables and he said that “there may be yield losses in the coming days.”

Production falls, inflation soars

The president of the Antakya Chamber of Agriculture, Mehmet Muzaffer Okay, said that especially the rains in February and March were critical and that the situation pointed to a worse outlook than the 2008 crisis, and made the following assessment: “Prices will rise because the supply will decrease. The cost of additional irrigation due to drought is 1200 TL per acre. It has doubled compared to last year. Drought will affect wheat production. There was a drought 2 years ago, 20 million tons of wheat production dropped to 16 million. But that year was not so bad. The process is getting worse. There is no supply to demand, there are restrictions on imports, that triggers inflation”.