Dündar drew attention to the seriousness of the point reached by displaying foreign-origin basic food products at the event organized by the women of the Saadet Party in Izmir for Domestic Products Week.
Food items such as tea originating from Sri Lanka, rice and garlic originating from China, lentils originating from Canada, chickpeas originating from India, beans originating from Mexico, wheat originating from Russia, corn originating from Hungary, and hazelnuts originating from Germany were exhibited at the stand they set up in 9 Eylül Square.
With the event, the Saadet Party Izmir Women's Branch organization revealed that the products thought to be domestic by most of the public are actually imported.
“TÜRKİYE IS LOOSING ITS PRODUCTION POWER”
Fatma Dündar, Saadet Party İzmir Provincial Women's Branch President, made the press statement at the event.
"Seed Law No. 5553 was enacted in 2006. With this law, natural seeds were taken away from farmers and the law not to provide support to farmers using local seeds was put into effect. Indirect interventions made by organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the EU in our country's agriculture negatively affect agricultural enterprises. Agricultural areas in our country have decreased by 12 percent in the last 19 years. The number of farmers has decreased by around 55 percent in the last 10 years. Turkey was a successful and self-sufficient country in agricultural production for many years. Anatolia is known as the homeland of wheat and barley, but these fertile lands are losing their production power despite all the warnings of the farmers," Dündar said.
“85 MILLION CITIZENS EARN IF OUR FARMERS EARN”
Fatma Dündar stated that an economy that is not based on production is fragile.
"In the latest report prepared by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Turkey was introduced as one of the top three importing countries in the world in both wheat and barley in the 2021-2022 season. As Saadet Party, we say; Structural reforms that will increase our country's production capacity and added value need to accelerate. And we know that; As our farmers earn, they earn 85 million, and when the agricultural sector recovers, Türkiye rises. We do not want to explain to our children what import means, but rather talk about the riches of our country. Because we are working to bring domestic production, domestic consumption and national development to life. As women of our country, we want to use the produce of our own fields in our kitchen. We want it to be easy to access cheap and quality food. The happiness of our country is not outside, it is in our own hands," Dündar added.