Union of Turkish Chambers of Agriculture (TZOB) announced that the export quotas on onions, potatoes and lemons left producers in the lurch and called for the removal of these quotas.
“The price of onions and potatoes decreased to 0.30 and 0.40 Turkish Lira (0.04 to 0.05 Euro) respectively. Lemons are wasted in the stores. Our farmers are on the verge of stopping the production. The quotas on onions, potatoes and lemons must be lifted.” said Semsi Bayraktar, the President of TZOB.
TZOB’s written statement pointed out to the impact of coronavirus on agricultural production as following:
“Due to the lockdown, restaurants and hotels were closed and now they don’t work with full capacity. This caused a decrease in demand. Our producers who already have difficulties in selling their products now face another obstacle with export quotas. This has put our producers in a very difficult position.”
“The partial permission for exports is not sufficient”
Even if a partial permission was granted for the export of onions, potatoes and lemons, this is not sufficient, said TZOB management:
“The fact that export permission was announced late and that it was limited caused loss of markets. Due to the uncertainty in the market and low prices, our producers were not only left in the lurch, but they also had difficulties in marketing their products since traders can only buy a limited amount. In Adana, Hatay and Karacabey, Bursa summer onions are not even harvested. In Yenisehir, the harvest of onions started but the products wait for customers at only 0.3 Turkish Lira.”
In Odemis, potato prices decreased from 0.95 Turkish Lira (0.12 Euro) to 0.40 Turkish Lira (0.05 Euro) and only 4.000 tons lemons of the 10.000 ton-quota were exported, the statement reminded.
“Due to export quotas and decreased demands, the quality of lemons in the storages dropped significantly. If the products cannot be marketed, the losses will be greater.” the statement added.
President Bayraktar pointed out to the approaching harvest of winter potatoes, onions and lemons and said:
“We ask for a planned and sustainable production. The fluctuations in the production and marketing problems are harmful for all parties from the producer to the consumer. When there is a marketing problem, producers are deeply influenced from this due low prices and when there is not enough supply, consumers are affected due to high prices. For onions and potatoes where we see the most fluctuations, the production needs to be planned according to Turkey’s needs and it needs to remain stable. For our important export products such as lemons, we need to work towards keeping our existing markets while we search for the new ones. The production costs need to be lowered and problems must be resolved permanently. Once there is a decrease in producers’ prices and marketing problems arise there must be an intervention.”
Bayraktar stated that they communicated this problem to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and that they wait for a solution.
Source: Bloomberg