Although there are arable lands all over Turkey, we are on the way to becoming a country dependent on imports of agricultural products due to wrong policies.
Alarms that sounded in all areas of the agricultural sector, from wheat producers to tea producers, from tobacco producers to greenhouse producers, started to give signals for blueberry production.
Blueberries, which are used in medicine, gastronomy, drug production, beverage production and many other fields, remain in the fields because they do not receive the necessary attention by the authorities.
Blueberry harvest in the Eastern Black Sea Region came to an end due to insensitive managers in Turkey, where we import blueberries when they could be exported.
Blueberry producer Cevat Sarumsak, who made special statements to the Milli Gazete, pointed out that if this continues, blueberry production in the Eastern Black Sea Region will end.
“WE CAN'T SEE THE SUPPORT OF PROVINCIAL DIRECTORATES OF AGRICULTURE”
Cevat Sarumsak, a farmer who has been producing blueberry for many years in Trabzon Of, "An average of 1,400 tons of blueberries are produced each year in Turkey. Approximately 300 tons of this are produced in the Eastern Black Sea Region. Since the Black Sea soil is more suitable for blueberry production, the blueberries we produce are of higher quality. However, more than 20 percent of blueberry producers in the Black Sea region do not harvest at all every year. Many of the collectors are unable to dispose of or sell a large part of the blueberry. The main reason for this problem is that we do not see the support of provincial agriculture directorates in the Black Sea region. Provincial agriculture directorates do not provide us any benefit, and they report to the administrators in Ankara that everything is fine. However, nothing is right," he said.
“BLACKBERRY IMPORT IS DONE IN TURKEY”
Stating that there are 300 farmers producing blueberries in Turkey, Cevat Sarumsak said, "Can't this state take care of 300 producers? Then let's stop production and turn blueberry fields into forests. While the blueberries produced in the Black Sea remain in the field, blueberry imports are still being made in Turkey. If the agriculture and trade ministries work in coordination with us and impose restrictions on blueberry imports, the problems will be solved. However, both the insensitivity of the administrators to the subject, the fact that the provincial directorates of agriculture did not do their job correctly and the lack of attention to blueberry production unfortunately put us in a big impasse. We want the authorities to hear our voices."