ULUSOY: WE NEED LICENSED WAREHOUSES OF 12 MILLION TONS CAPACITY

Eren Günhan Ulusoy, Chairman of Turkish Flour Industrialists Association, said that Turkey needs 12 million tons of licensed warehouse for grain...

In Turkey, underlining that young people don't want to be involved in agriculture, Ulusoy said, "The average age of citizens engaged in agriculture around 50, more than 20 years on average. So they have limited access to information and not open to innovation."

"Divided lands by inheritance falls down yields and the reduction of income leads people not to invest in technology, thus farmers lean to traditional methods" Ulusoy noted.

Stating that farmers being helpless against merchants and industrialists because of their warehouse and financial difficulties, Ulusoy unveiled, "There is a simple model for this in the grain market.  Farmers can put their products in a licensed warehouse, get an electronic product certificate in return of this and then apply to a bank for credits while gaining power of long time selling. Since they are not obliged to sell in a short term, thus a market depth and future market can be experienced."

Ulusoy explained that there needs about 12 million tons capacity of a licensed warehousing system in Turkey, for 20 million tons of wheat, 7-8 million tons of barley and 5-6 million maize as grain production of 33 million tons.

"The state has played a strong role in licensed warehousing, a law enacted in 2006 then 3 licensed warehouses were established until 2014. Incentives started in 2014 and the installed capacity has reached 3.5 million tons. There are 94 licensed warehouses across Turkey" he added.

"Farmers will be protected from price risks and uncertainty thanks to Specialized Products Exchange to be set up under the İstanbul Stock Exchange. Business in USA is running like this. Farmers do their jobs by knowing the October 2020-2021" he concluded...