Alert of ‘Caution and support’ for the continuity of milk production
Making remarks on June 1, World Milk Day, Şemsi Bayraktar, President of the Turkish Union of Chambers of Agriculture (TZOB), and İsa Coşkun, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Industrialists and Producers of Milk, Meat and Turkey Foods; They indicated that measures must be taken for the continuity of production and producers must be supported.
TZOB Chairman Şemsi Bayraktar in his written statement said: “Instead of suppressing milk prices, feed prices must be controlled and a way must be found to supply fodder and concentrated feed to the producer at reasonable prices.” .
“FOOD PRICES MUST BE UNDER CONTROL”
Stating that continuity of production must be ensured without offending producers, Bayraktar said: “For this reason, instead of suppressing milk prices, food prices must be controlled and a way must be found to supply raw and concentrated feed to breeders at reasonable prices. He found. The price of milk must continue to be determined in the field between the producer and the manufacturer.
Bayraktar pointed out the importance of taking measures to guarantee the balance in the raw milk/feed parity, which is determined at least 1.5 to guarantee the sustainability of production, and affirmed that the breeder must be supported so that he does not deviate from the production. .
“MORE ATTENTION NEEDED”
Isa Coşkun, Chairman of the Board of SETBİR, stated that a strong authority on food safety is needed more than ever and said that they expect a strong economic program to come forward in the new period, and more attention should be paid. to the agri-food sector with policies to be developed in the short, medium and long term.
Emphasizing that Turkey ranked 8th in the world and 3rd after Germany and France among EU countries with a milk production of 21.6 million tons last year, Coşkun stated that when considering the structure of businesses, small family businesses are the majority.
INCENTIVE MODELS SHOULD BE DEVELOPED
Coşkun stated that it is not possible to change business structures in the short term and therefore incentive models for companies must be developed.
When the capacities of companies are grouped according to the number of animals they have, it is observed that although the number of medium and large companies has increased in recent years, approximately 85 percent of established dairy companies have a capacity of less than of 20 heads. In small business structures, productivity is low and costs are high due to reasons such as economies of scale. Therefore, since it is not possible to change this structure in the short term, incentive models must be developed according to these companies and long-term structural policies and incentives must be applied to change this structure.
Coşkun said that it is important to ensure the sustainability of the dairy sector, make feed production and cost management more effective, regulate the balance between supply and demand by closely monitoring the evolution of supply and demand, increase the quality of raw milk and bring to EU standards, to ensure food safety in the sector and to fight effectively against informality. He stated that there are problems.
MARKET PRICE IS HIGHER THAN THE REFERENCE PRICE OF RAW MILK
Coşkun stated that the raw milk reference price is of great importance for the sector in this period of high price increases in the sector, and concluded his words as follows:
“The price on the market is much higher than the announced reference price of 8.5 lira. For this reason, we expect that the raw milk price determined by the National Dairy Council, which is made up of all parties related to the sector, will be a reference price as it used to be. We will continue with our selfless effort for our sectors, the future, the well-being and the development of our country, and we will continue to provide all kinds of support in all these processes, as we have done so far”. (AA)