The farmers’ rebellion: We become bankrupt while producing, can workers become bankrupt?
The cotton harvest has begun in Aydın, one of the cotton production centers.
The producers, who began sowing with the increasingly high prices of seeds, pesticides, diesel and fertilizers and who fear not revealing the price of the cotton that they brought with great effort at the harvest stage, said that if the price of cotton does not is between 25-30 lira, next year there will be a decrease of at least 50 percent in yield and producers will stop planting cotton.
‘THE STATE DOES NOT SUPPORT ANY PRODUCER’
Cotton producer Yılmaz Kılıçarslan said that the production cost of cotton is 18 to 19 lira and that they have heard that cotton stocks are full and therefore prices may drop to 10 lira.
Kılıçarslan said: “Our state does not provide enough support. Does not endorse any manufacturer. I don’t know why, but agricultural policy is wrong. “The support that is currently 1 lira and 60 kuruş should be at least 4 or 5 lira,” he said.
‘WE CAN NO LONGER HAVE A FESTIVAL DURING THE HARVEST SEASON’
Mustafa Aytekin, a cotton farmer from Incirliova, said they consider the harvest a holiday, saying: “We can no longer celebrate the harvest season when we marry our children, pay our debts and call it a holiday.”
Aytekin claimed that nothing they have produced for two years has made any money, saying: “They are going crazy with diesel, fertilizers and pesticides. The small farmer became unable to survive. From now on, agriculture will be in charge of large farmers. As they have the State behind them, we do not have the State behind us. Can a diesel fuel cost 40 lira? We go bankrupt while we produce. Does a working person go bankrupt? We are sinking. “They can’t pay us for the product we produce,” he said.
‘A KILO OF COTTON SHOULD BE A KILO OF FUEL OIL’
İsmail Korkmaz, who compared diesel and cotton prices in previous years, wanted cotton purchase prices to be announced as soon as possible.
Korkmaz said: “Last year one kilo of cotton and one kilo of diesel fuel were purchased, but this year two kilos of cotton are not equivalent to one kilo of diesel fuel. That’s why I’m thinking about reducing cotton planting as much as possible next year. “If this year I planted 100 decares, next year I plan to plant 30 decares,” he said.
Korkmaz also said: “It used to be called white gold, but now it doesn’t exist anymore. The price is not known at the moment. If the farmer is given a price a year in advance, he will plant or not plant accordingly. Every time we start harvesting, the government announces a price. No farmer can sell at the advertised price, they always sell for gold. “In the worst conditions, a kilo of cotton could buy a kilo of diesel,” he said.
‘THE PRICE OF COTTON SHOULD BE BETWEEN 25 AND 30 TL’
Ali Oğuzhan Ülgdür, President of the İncirliova Chamber of Agriculture, stated that they do not want to experience the disappointment of corn prices in cotton and told SÖZCÜ:
“We have never started a season with as much fear and anxiety as this year. We buy the seeds, which last year we bought for 800 liras per bag, and this year for 2,000 liras. The medications we take have increased by at least 250 to 300 percent. Fertilizer prices are the same. We work hard to produce cotton. Now we have reached the end of the road.
We begin to harvest the cotton we call white gold. There are no transactions at this time. The price is not clear. This breaks our backs. We want to be rewarded for the product we put so much effort into. The price of cotton should be at least 25 to 30 lira. Otherwise we won’t be able to get out of this.
Will it be a loss-making business? If the farmer cannot sell his product at the price he deserves in one or two weeks, he will no longer produce cotton under those conditions. “Next year at least 50 percent less will be planted.”