Drought hitting cereal farmers, says association president

ISTANBUL

The planting period for wheat and barley has been delayed due to insufficient rainfall and many farmers have been unable to plant cereals due to drought, Şemsi Bayraktar, president of the Union of Turkish Agricultural Chambers (TZOB), has said.

The impacts from climate change through changes in precipitation, natural disasters, higher temperature and drought, are felt most in the agricultural sector, he noted.

Climate change causes lower quality and yields, increased production costs, warmer and less rainy conditions, increased plant diseases and pests as well as reduced plant diversity, according to Bayraktar.

He warned that the amount of usable water per capita has decreased due to population growth in Türkiye.

Failure to complete investments and ensure efficiency in irrigation is another structural problem, Bayraktar said, noting that irrigation infrastructure has not been completed on 1.4 million hectares of land.

Drought not only affected the productivity of agricultural products, but also drove farmers away from planting certain crops, according to Bayraktar.

Precipitation in the summer season decreased by 30 percent compared to last year, he said, adding that the sowing period in wheat and barley has shifted to later dates.

“This season, the planting period has shifted forward by 20 days to 1 month because the precipitation was not at the desired level in October and came very late in some regions,” he explained.