Azernews.Az

By News Center

Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı reported that 34 provinces were affected by agricultural frost to varying degrees.

Yumaklı examined the apricot orchard affected by the agricultural frost in the Kuyulu Neighborhood of the Yeşilyurt district of Malatya.

Minister Yumaklı, in his statement to reporters here, said that they were with the producers affected by the agricultural frost. He added the teams are continuing their works.

"According to our current findings, 34 provinces have been affected to different extents and rates," Yumaklı said.

The minister recalled President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's statement regarding agricultural frost last night, and noted that for those who have agricultural insurance, as soon as the detection work is completed, their payments will be made immediately, as in Mersin, Adana, and Hatay.

"This is a calendar, and then we will calculate the expenses that our producers who are not insured and are registered in the Farmer Registration System (ÇKS) have made up to this point and cover their costs. We will implement a calendar such as determination, determination, payment for those who have insurance, and calculation and then payment for those who do not have insurance. Here, I would like to emphasize once again the importance of agricultural insurance, which will guarantee that those who do agricultural production will be able to stay away from the unpredictable and even unavoidable effects of climate change, and that one year of labor will not be wasted," Yumakli pointed out.

Minister Yumaklı stated that physical conditions must be met to detect agricultural frost damage and that this detection is not possible when there is snow and ice on trees and products. He said:

"I have to open a parenthesis here. In such cases, they may have any representation, they may have an expertise of their own, but we have seen those who, without any data, irresponsibly disclose information that we do not even have, that is not possible, in order to give a message to the segment they are addressing. There are those who do not have any responsibility, who only talk and say 'I gave my message.' These do not benefit either our production or our producers. Therefore, I kindly request that the statement made by our Ministry be paid special attention to.

There is no point in confusing people's minds by saying general things. We have time for our strategic products such as grains, legumes, oilseeds, and even vegetables. Without doing anything about these, saying 'We are ruined, there will be a food problem in our country. The market will burn down.' These are irresponsible statements. Agricultural frost was effective in fruit groups. It was very effective in some places, very little in others. It was very effective in a province, 80-90 percent effective in certain products, and it was slightly more effective in another province. All of these are possible with proper damage assessments," he said.

İbrahim Yumaklı, touching on the importance of agricultural insurance for producers, and said:

"We should not say, 'It happens once every five years, once every ten years. We can do without it.' When it happens once, the damage it will cause is great."

Yumaklı, who stated that 70 percent of the agricultural insurance policy cost is covered by the state. "If you want to use protective equipment for frost and similar events, our state gives half of them as a grant. If you use these, it also discounts the policy cost of the agricultural insurance you have by 25 to 30 percent. The whole purpose is to guarantee that labor," he underscored.

Yumaklı stated that apricot trees were affected by agricultural frost and that this damage was visible to the eye. He noted the following:

"There are things that need to be done so that these trees can bear fruit next year as well. Our Ministry and Governorship have also started working on these. This is a technical study, a study that requires expertise. We will also make efforts in this direction. What has happened so far has happened, and we will continue our work to ensure that these trees return to yield. Since the start of all this frost, I have had very intensive follow-up meetings with our producers and governors in our provinces. I have analyzed some issues and carried out infrastructure work. Finally, I presented the situation to our President and, thankfully, our President gave his instructions without any hesitation to stand by our producers as he always does."

Minister Yumaklı wished a quick recovery to apricot producers affected by the agricultural frost and stated that they were with the farmers.

Emphasizing that apricots are extremely important for Malatya, Yumaklı said: "Half of Turkey's apricot production and three-quarters of its exports come from Malatya. There is a dried apricot stock of approximately 50,000 tons in Malatya. This will also provide us with some relief in terms of market loss."