The Bafra Chamber of Agriculture Board members have listened to the problems of the watermelon and melon growers in Bafra, Samsun, a city located in northeastern Turkey.
The Bafra Chamber of Agriculture Chairman, Osman Tosuner: “The costs of the growers have increased by 50% compared to last year. They are in a very difficult position, they are in debt to banks right now and the season has to go very well for them otherwise we will start losing growers in the area.
The state has to support the agricultural production. The labor costs for an average production area is around 20.000 USD, the break even point for the grower is at 35.000 USD so when you consider additional costs, the growers are in danger of losing considerable sums of money.
The state has promised before that they will cover half of the fuel expenses but they did not deliver on that. In Europe, the state pays half of fuel expenses on production farms but unfortunately that is not the case in Turkey. We hope that government will not forget the growers. The elections are coming close. We always support our government but we expect their support as well.”
Source: Hedef Halk