Saadet Party Edirne Provincial Organization organized Agriculture Council. At the meeting held in the Chamber of Commerce Hall, Saadet Party Deputy Chairman Mustafa İriş, Saadet Party Edirne Provincial President Sinan Tekin, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Edirne Provincial President Fevzi Pekcanlı, Democrat Party Edirne Provincial President Ayten Ercan, Thrace Union Chairman of the Board Şafak Kırbiç, heads of agriculture chambers and many farmers participated. In the panel held at the Agricultural Council, the chairman of the panel was Saadet Party Edirne Provincial Presidency Public Relations Director, Senior Agricultural Engineer Halil İbrahim İriş, while Edirne Commodity Exchange President Özay Öztürk, Edirne Chamber of Agricultural Engineers President Erdoğan Yanılmaz and Milli Gazete columnist Sadettin İnan each made speeches.
“YOU CAN PRODUCE MANY THINGS BUT YOU CANNOT PRODUCE THE SOIL”
In his speech at the opening of the Agriculture Council program, Saadet Party Deputy Chairman Mustafa İriş pointed out the importance of agriculture and stated that we should protect agricultural lands as our eyes. Expressing that the soil with agriculture is like nails and flesh that does not separate from each other, İriş said, “I don't know in the world, but in our country, there is the terrifying destruction of agricultural areas. If my memory does not deceive me, there has been a contraction of around 15 percent in agricultural areas for 25 years. This is a very big thing, like construction and concretization. You can produce a lot, but you cannot produce the soil. Therefore, we all have the right to protect this soil, which is the trust of our ancestors, the land entrusted to us by the martyrs, in the best way possible.”
“AGRICULTURE SECTOR IS A COUNTRY'S SECURITY MATTER”
In his opening speech, Saadet Party Edirne Provincial Chairman Sinan Tekin stated that the Covid-19 pandemic reminded the whole world the importance of agriculture, “As we always say, the agricultural sector is a country's security issue, its lifeblood. Agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry is one of the strategically important sectors for our country to stand on its own power. However, our soils, our climate, the diversity of vegetation we have, our water potential and our trained human factor are our biggest source of strength. In this regard, supporting and encouraging our farmers is of vital importance for our country and our people,” he said.
“WE ARE TRYING TO RANCH WITH IMPORTED FORAGE”
In his speech at the panel, Edirne Commodity Exchange President Özay Öztürk drew attention to the slaughter of female animals in the field of livestock and noted that measures should be taken in this regard. Emphasizing that Turkey is a serious importer of forage input in animal husbandry, Öztürk reminded that forage prices in Turkey increased due to the increase in foreign exchange rates and the increase in forage raw material prices abroad. However, Öztürk stated that increasing forage prices also dragged livestock into a major crisis and pointed out the importance of increasing support for forage.
“OUR NUMBER OF FARMERS IS DECREASING, OUR AGRICULTURAL LANDS ARE NARROWING”
President of Edirne Chamber of Agricultural Engineers Erdogan Yanılmaz made a speech at the panel. In his speech, he noted that agriculture has become like this due to the wrong agricultural policies of the government and that important steps should be taken on agriculture and food by taking measures as soon as possible.
Referring to the difficulties experienced, Yanılmaz said, “We have an important place in animal husbandry and dairy farming, but we could not become a brand in cheese production and we are not in the place we deserve. I think this is our shortcoming. According to the data of the second quarter of 2022 announced by Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), the agricultural sector shrank by 2,9 percent, while the number of farmers, which was 1,1 million in 2008, fell to 512 thousand in 2021 according to the Social Security Institution (SGK) data. We see that arable land, which was 26,3 million hectares in 2001, decreased to 23,1 million hectares. This approximately 3,2 million hectares of agricultural land could not be planted in 20 years for various reasons. The biggest reason for this is non-agricultural use, especially it has become very common. We need to prevent non-agricultural use as soon as possible.”
“FOOD COMMITTEE DEALS A MAJOR BLOW TO TURKEY'S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION”
In his speech at the panel, Milli Gazete writer Sadettin Inan said that although the agriculture sector is a strategic sector, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was managed by ministers who had nothing to do with the sector for years. On the other hand, he noted that Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, which is the most important farmer organization of Turkey, has not provided any service to the farmer in the last 3-5 years, but that such an important institution has been looted. Underlining that the culprit of inflation is not the farmer, but the fact that raw milk prices are not increased on the grounds that it will increase inflation, Inan underlined that it caused a deep crisis in animal husbandry, and underlined that the efforts to control the products of the producers through organizations such as the Food Committee dealt a great blow to the agricultural production of the country.