The government has canceled its hazelnut procurement orders from Turkish farmers in an attempt to end production on unauthorized land, which threatens competition in the market.

In Turkey, the world's top hazelnut producer, hazelnut farmers must register for production licenses, a policy meant to keep hazelnut production under control. With a law passed in 1983, the state banned hazelnut farming on land with a low slope, particularly in the western part of the Black Sea region. However, there were problems applying the law, and the land used to grow hazelnuts has jumped from 400 million square meters to 642 million over the past 26 years, placing an extra burden on the country's economy as the government purchases excess hazelnut production to prevent a drop in prices.

Following a Cabinet meeting in Ankara on Tuesday, ministers told reporters that the government had stopped its hazelnut procurement, effective immediately. Speaking on the issue, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehmet Mehdi Eker said hazelnut farming in Turkey had spread beyond expectations throughout the years and that the government had to intervene to put an end to illegal production. “We cannot just sit and watch the market. We will take the current unauthorized land out of production and encourage farmers to switch to other cultivation options,” he noted.

Unauthorized hazelnut farms in Turkey have spread out over a total of 236 million square meters. In a bid to encourage legal harvest, the government will pay unauthorized hazelnut farmers some TL 600 in incentives per 1,000 square meters to stop growing hazelnuts, expecting to completely obliterate illegal hazelnut production within the next three years. The three-year strategy plan also involves the removal of already-planted hazelnut saplings on unauthorized land. The total cost of the incentives and the disposal of illegal hazelnut plants will be an anticipated TL 2.6 billion. Additionally, the government will encourage farmers to switch to alternative crops. Having faced challenges from abundant harvests in the past few years, with the increase in the number of hazelnut farms going out of control, the Soil Products Office (TMO) is eager to put an end to these problems, as it is running out of space in its storage facilities to handle the excess hazelnuts. Underlining that the TMO already has 535,000 tons of hazelnuts in storage and cannot afford to purchase any more, he said the state loses TL 1 billion per year on hazelnut procurement. Eker said the TMO would not release their stock into the domestic market, in order to avoid price fluctuations. “Our priority is to protect the rights of our producers. There is unfair competition in the market, and we have to do something to this end,” he said. The TMO had intervened in the hazelnut market through purchases over the last four years in an effort to stabilize prices.

The government will also allocate some TL 1.8 billion for hazelnut producers farming on 406 million square meters of land during the next three years. According to the scheme, which covers the years 2009-2012, authorized hazelnut farmers will receive TL 150 per 1,000 square meters. With this incentive, the government expects to encourage hazelnut farming only on authorized land.

Following the government's decision, all eyes turned to the country's 250,000 hazelnut farmers, who constitute a powerful farm lobby. The first comments came from the Black Sea Exporters Union (KIB). Evaluating the decision, KIB head Oguz Gürsoy said on Wednesday in Ordu that the government's strategy was to the point but time will tell if it is effective. Emphasizing that global hazelnut production approached 1.2 million tons last year, Gürsoy said all producer countries had the same problem of an overabundant crop. “We could export only 600,000 tons of our production, and the remaining crop put an extra burden on the economy. If this three-year strategy program can be applied healthily, we believe producers will benefit,” he stated. Turkey expects to earn some $1.3 billion from hazelnut exports this year.

Source: www.todayszaman.com