Trakya Farmers Uproot Orchards Amid Rising Costs
· GıdaTarım
Farmers in Babaeski, Kırklareli, expressed their struggles to YENİ Parti Chairman Özgür Özel, stating that high input costs and low product prices are forcing them to uproot their fruit orchards.
Trakya Farmers' Rising Cost Dilemma
As part of his Trakya tour, YENİ Parti Chairman Özgür Özel met with producers in Taşağıl village, Babaeski district of Kırklareli, following his visit to Edirne. Listening to the farmers' problems, Özel emphasized the need to support agricultural production and producers, sharing his party's goals. During the meeting, a Regional Farmer spoke about the difficulties they face due to the high cost of diesel and feed:
We can no longer produce anything. I retired and settled in the village to raise livestock. Diesel is expensive, feed is expensive.
Producers stated that the basic input items for livestock and crop production have reached unaffordable levels.
Mandatory Uprooting Process in Fruit Orchards
A farmer, who is also an agricultural doctor, stated that despite procuring agricultural inputs under the most favorable conditions, they are unable to achieve profitability:
I get pesticides and fertilizers at a very good price. Despite this, we are making a loss. I've abandoned the orchard; we are uprooting the fruits. We are uprooting this year. We've been getting worse every year for years, worse every year. We've reached a point where we can no longer endure. Inputs are too expensive, our product prices are too low. Unfortunately, we are uprooting our orchard. Years of labor, years we've put our effort into, we planted each one with our own hands, but unfortunately, we are uprooting it.
It was emphasized that tree uprooting has begun in the region due to the imbalance between high costs and low product prices.
Development on Agricultural Lands and Future Anxiety
The change of ownership of agricultural lands and the pressure of development on fertile soils were also brought up during the meeting. Reacting to the ongoing process, a Village Resident Farmer said:
Worst of all, our fields are being sold. We don't know who they are being sold to. Concrete houses are being built where we used to plant and harvest. Those things make me very uneasy. We can't leave anything for our grandchildren. We can't produce anymore. We've abandoned many things. We are not at ease. We are not at all at ease. Our future is not good at all.
A Producer Woman, speaking at the meeting, stated that they are left alone in the countryside and said:
No one has taken care of us. There's no one to properly look after us. Not even in our village is there anyone looking out for us. The children are just managing on their own. There's no one to take care of us.