TZOB: Retired farmers who cannot receive a 5,000 lira bonus abandon production

Şemsi Bayraktar, president of the Turkish Union of Chambers of Agriculture (TZOB), made a video press statement regarding retired farmers who cannot benefit from the one-time 5,000 lira bonus given to retirees.

“Our retired farmers were victims of not being able to benefit from the 5,000 lira bonus granted by our Government specifically for the centenary of the Republic,” said Bayraktar, adding: “Due to this scandalous situation and excessive information pollution, our farmers who produce “They want to eliminate their registration in the Chamber of Agriculture.”

THEY WANT TO GET OFF

Highlights of Bayraktar’s speech are as follows:

“The phones of our Chambers of Agriculture and our Union do not stop ringing. Our producers demand, ‘either we have stopped producing and we delete our record, or we don’t want to produce anymore, we delete our record.’ Our farmers are worried that this grievance will hinder the support or bonuses that will be provided in the next period.

Those who have owned land for many years but have not been able to produce for a period of time for various reasons, and those who are still registered as farmers, will not be able to benefit from the bonus.

There is great turmoil in this process. Our retired farmers, who these days would have a little respite with this bonus as we enter winter, returned from the long bank lines they were waiting for and could not find what they expected.

DELETING THE RECORD DOES NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM

Although these days the number of farmers who want to unsubscribe by going to the Chambers of Agriculture has increased, here the October registrations are taken as a basis. That is, if our farmers had deleted their registration before October 1, 2023, they would have been able to benefit from this bonus. However, deregistering and abandoning production does not solve the problem.

Our farmers, who are veterans of the agricultural sector, earn a per capita income one-third of the Turkish average. We hope that our government will eliminate this grievance taking this amount into consideration.

Our producers, who have not yet received a positive response to all our initiatives, are well aware of the good news. Our retired farmers who add value to our country with their production should not be punished. This situation, which causes outrage and disappointment, must be urgently eliminated and the good news that our farmers have been waiting for must be given as soon as possible.”