MEHMET AKIN DOĞAN: WE SHOULD EXPORT ONIONS, DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION DECREASED

Onion harvest is expected to begin this week in Adana, which is one of the onion centres of Turkey. However, due to the temporary closure of most restaurants and restaurants within the scope of combating corona virus, onion consumption has decreased.

Yüreğir Chamber of Agriculture President Mehmet Akın Doğan said that if the onion is sold to 3 liras in the market, the farmer will not be able to earn money this year and the prices will drop excessively, unless exported to Russia and European countries until April 20.

Stating that the yield is high this season, Doğan noted, “When the onion was harvested last year, there was a disease on the crop. Rain and sun also caused poor productivity. While last year yields 2-3 tons per decare, we expect 5-6 tons of onion yield this year. If 50 thousand tons of onions are exported, it will make the farmer's face laugh."

“There is no yield shortage this year”

Reminding that Turkey imported some amount of onions last year, “We started the onion harvest last year and the kilogram in the field was between 5-6 liras. Imports were made last year, which was not enough. The onions coming from Iran were green, other ones coming from Egypt were deformed and onions imported from Uzbekistan also grew on the road and came to our country in 18 days. We won't have such a problem this year," Doğan added.

"There is an onion stock of about 50 thousand tons in Çorum, Amasya, Ankara Şereflikoçhisar and Polatlı regions. This amount of crop is sufficient for 25 days in our country. Before the coronavirus epidemic, there was 4-5 thousand tons of onion consumption per day across Turkey. However, at the moment restaurants are closed and the people are at home so onion consumption has decreased. An average of 2 thousand tons of onion is consumed per day now. That's why exports of this crop seem inevitable," he concluded...