Farmer Registrations Halve as Agricultural Debt Skyrockets
· GıdaTarım
The number of insured farmers has fallen to its lowest level in 17 years due to rising costs and debt burden, while the sector's non-performing loan debt has reached 25.5 billion lira.
Sharp Decline in Registered Farmer Numbers
Producers across Turkey are continuing to cease agricultural activities due to increasing production costs and low product prices. According to data, the number of insured farmers, which was 1,014,000 in 2009, has fallen to its lowest level in 17 years, dropping to 562,120 individuals. The share of farmers in the total population has decreased from 10.7 percent to 5.23 percent during this period. Producers unable to generate income are selling off their equipment.
Record Increase in Agricultural Loan Debt
The financial obligations of producers to banks, who finance essential agricultural inputs such as diesel, fertilizer, seeds, medicine, and electricity through borrowing, are rapidly growing. According to banking data, the total loan debt of the agricultural sector increased by 38 percent in the last year, reaching 1 trillion 459 billion lira as of the June period. In the same period, the amount of farmer loans in non-performing status surged more than threefold from 7 billion 653 million lira in June of the previous year to 25 billion 515 million lira.
Producer's Warehouse Produce Seized
CHP Niğde Deputy Ömer Fethi Gürer stated that the import-oriented approach in agricultural policies has driven producers into an economic bottleneck, and foreclosure processes have spread from fields to warehouses. According to an announcement published by the Kayseri Yeşilhisar Enforcement Office, 65,000 kilograms of apples of the Arjantin, Golden, Starking, and Pikleydi varieties, stored in a cold storage facility belonging to an indebted producer, were put up for sale through enforcement proceedings with an estimated value of 4 million 424 thousand 264 lira.