Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli (PhD) went to Tokat for starting the purchase of beet campaign and he stated "all sugar needed by public are produced in the country".
He also mentioned that "agriculture will be the most important sector in the future with no doubt. The country that feeds the world will be the leader. We need to combine agriculture and technology for this. Our farmers were ploughing their land in the near past but today they are using the high technology devices and they are earning more and more. Today we have farmers who are using autonomic tractor, drone and sensor. We are proud of them."
"We decreased the fertilizer prices nearly 15%."
Minister Pakdemirli (PhD) also emphasized that they also gave good news to the farmers in the last days and continued as follows: "We decreased the fertilizer prices nearly 15%. Wheat and barley supports are increased 100%. We will purchase them with the world prices from now on. We will share the responsibility of our farmers and will never leave them alone. Difficult is done at once, the impossible takes a little longer. We initiated a Project with the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. We started the process of renting the agricultural lands to the farmers. We are giving 125 million TL support with this initiative. From now on, farmers can cultivate their own land and they may buy this land after 10 years if they want. Farmers registered on Farmer Registration System can benefit from these supports. Actually with this support, the amount for rent will be free. On the other hand, farmers will have money for agricultural investments and they will invest for tractors, fertilizers and infrastructure of their land."
"States trapped in their cocoons cannot grow. "
Mr. Pakdemirli (PhD) also stated as being a big state has a cost and continued:" States trapped in their cocoons could not grow. We rented agricultural lands in Sudan and we will start cultivation in these lands soon. They ask questions like 'What is Turkey's business in Sudan?'. I would like to ask them 'What is USA's, China's, Netherland's or France's business in Africa?'. We are working for our food supply security. Producing in different geographies is the insurance of future and production. Sudan is a part of our heart land. We are sons of an ancient, established and mighty nation. Throughout the history, we have always been with the oppressed, the right and the powerless. Today, we are fighting with our nation against this colonialist understanding. I would like to express here in particular. Neither Gezi and Fetö nor operations over the dollar can destroy this nation. Those who try to do so will be trapped under their own rubble. No one should be suspicious of it."
"All sugar needed by public are produced in the country"
Minister Pakdemirli (PhD) emphasized that sugar is national and strategical product for Turkey and he continued: "The speculative news in this subject are not real. Especially I underline, all sugar needed by public are produced in the country. We have made a significant progress in sugar production in the country. We are even exporting sugar to Syria and Iraq."
Sugar Quota is determined as 2 Million 700 Thousand Tons
Minister Pakdemirli (PhD) told a memory of a friend whose farmer family is located in Tokat, " 'When I came home with a pack of small tea and 1 kilo of sugar, all of my five sisters welcomed me by going out of the house and shouting as "We became rich." I was able to buy these two things working as an apprentice for 5 days.' Dear friends, this country was faced with such scenes in the 1970s, we still remember the sugar queues like yesterday. See, where we came from. Our beet production was 16.5 million tons in 2002 and it increased to more than 21 million tons in 2017 with an 28% increase. In the same period, the beet yield obtained from the unit area was increased by 50 percent with the successful policies we implemented, and the sugar quotas were determined by our President in 2018. During this period, the starch-based sugar quotas were reduced by half. The starch-based sugar quota, previously applied as 10 percent in total sugar, was withdrawn to 5 percent and the resulting quota difference was allocated to beet. The sugar quotas for the 2018/2019 marketing year were determined as 2 million 700 thousand tons. 2 million 565 thousand tons of this amount is allocated to beet sugar. Thus, all of the sugar consumed by our people is covered by domestic production and 95% of this production is covered with beet sugar. The management and administration of the sugar sector is in our Ministry. "
Following his speech, Pakdemirli (PhD) gave various gifts to 3 farmers who first delivered their sugar beet and started the 2018 beet purchase campaign