Hazelnut producers desperate: just cover costs

SERKAN ALAN – SÖZCÜ TV

While hazelnuts collected in harsh conditions and in difficult geography were once known for harvesting enough fruit to pay for children’s weddings, today the production comes with comments such as “enough to pay for things”. Production in coastal areas begins in early August and continues until September.

According to producer Yusuf Sakallı, who started collecting products in his garden in Giresun very early, the price of hazelnuts should be announced before the products are collected. Sakallı drew attention to the increasing costs, which he said should be at least 200 liras, saying: “We expect the price of hazelnuts to be at least 200 liras this year. We spend more energy every day, but the income from hazelnuts is less. He said that we hope the government will inform the price of hazelnuts before the collection starts on July 15, “from 10 to early August.”

“If costs are announced, they will be spent accordingly”

Another producer said of the importance of costs: “If you collect one tonne of hazelnuts, it costs you 750kg. You only have 250kg, what can you afford during this time? “If the costs are published, people will spend accordingly,” he said.

“Those who announce the price should come and see how it is produced on the ramp”

Mustafa Öztürk said that hazelnut prices will not be compressed into two or three months for discussion and that the power of producers needs to be restored. Öztürk: “The power of hazelnuts is disappearing from us. Everyone knows hazelnuts from their own perspective. If someone, the decision-makers, is going to decide the price of hazelnuts, they should come and see how hazelnut producers ski, how they work on the slopes in difficult conditions, and then they should announce the price. “180 lira can save this year, but it will not save the future of producers,” he said.

Producers, like tea producers, asked the Bureau of Local Products to purchase quickly and not to impose quotas. They also asked that the product prices be transferred to their accounts within a week at most.

CHP leader serves hazelnut producers in Giresun

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel will also come to Giresun to list his demands for hazelnut producers. CHP leader Özgür Özel is expected to announce his party’s proposal for hazelnut purchase prices at a rally in Ataturk Square on Friday, August 2.