BAKİ REMZİ SUİÇMEZ: LIVE ANIMAL AND RED MEAT SHOULD NOT BE IMPORTED

Press release...

April 20, 2020, Ankara

While the problems experienced in livestock in our country continue increasingly, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the possibilities of imports in both crops and livestock have been limited and even if we have money, now such a situation exists that it cannot be bought from outside.

Although the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry officials declare that there is enough livestock, still Turkey's animal deficit will be met with the imports. Meanwhile breeders are increasingly trying to survive despite the ever-rising cost of inputs by fighting in more difficult conditions.


The main problem in animal husbandry is that feed input costs are very high. The first reason for this is that 70 percent of feed raw materials are covered by imports. The second reason is that the production planning and support amount of feed raw materials and feed crops are insufficient. Therefore animal husbandry is going back further in our country due to the fact that agricultural subsidies have been far below for years 1 percent of GDP specified in the Agricultural Law No. 5488.

Thus as we particularly emphasized it is known by everyone that the feed and other input costs of growers and producers are quite high in our country. Yet while they demand to have their animals slaughtered, it is widely spoken by the breeders that the Meat and Milk Institution (ESK) give 2-3 days later on the grounds that its warehouses are full.

Those who deal with animal husbandry fall into more difficulties and have to withdraw from the sector, because of red meat and livestock imports. Livestock imports not only distort price stability, but the position of national animal husbandry is deteriorating day by day.

The most important problem is to make livestock farming attracting by decreasing the production cost, a production and marketing system should be established, where the growers will not hurt and have a high profit margin. Support policies, projects to increase domestic production and institutional arrangements for intervention in the system should be implemented without compromise.

Regards,

Baki Remzi Suiçmez

Chamber of Agricultural Engineers (ZMO)

Chairman of the Board