In Türkiye, the economy remains weighed down by very high inflation which affects all sectors, and particularly agriculture. In Konya, in the heart of agricultural Anatolia, Fatih, a breeder-cultivator, is one of the farmers who takes a gloomy view of the future of his profession.
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It’s a sad day for Fatih Sik, 46 years old, 34 of whom spent working among the animals and fields on the family farm. Today he sends a dairy cow to the slaughterhouse. “ For a cow to earn more than what it costs me to feed it, it must produce at least 27 liters of milk per day. Below, I do not enter my costs. So regularly, I have to part with an animal. » « Before, this never happened to me, it’s been like this for three years », he confides, resigned, to our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer.
Three years during which theinflation continued to erode the purchasing power of the Turks. It is now estimated at 44% for the end of the year, compared to 38% according to forecasts for the month of August. The crisis is particularly painful for farmers, who are bearing the brunt of the incessant rise in their production costs. This fall, input prices agricultural – fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, gasoline – jumped another 32% in one year.
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Faced with this situation, the result of the economic policies pursued until last year, many farmers like Fatih feel abandoned. “ Instead of helping us, they are pushing us down! Is the price of meat increasing? The government encourages imports to lower prices. Milk increasing? We import powdered milk from who knows what country! We will end up dependent on foreigners. Be a farmer in Türkiyeit’s working while being hungry. », he says bitterly.
One day, Fatih tells himself, it is not his cows, but his farm that he will have to sell. His 16-year-old son does not want to take over
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