Çiftçi-Sen: Bonus payments must be made to retired farmers immediately

The Farmers' Union (ÇİFTÇİ-SEN) issued the following statement, saying, "Bonus payments must be made to retired farmers immediately":

High input costs and low product prices have pushed and continue to push small farmers and villagers into a state where they cannot produce. The global climate crisis is also hitting farmers hard. As Turkish agriculture is being corporatized through the implemented agricultural policies, the pressure of de-agriculturalization and de-villagization is increasing. With the Metropolitan Municipality Law, the legal entities of villages were abolished, their assets were seized, and schools and health centers in villages were closed. There is a serious link between this transformation in Turkish agriculture and the emptying of rural areas. While the rural population is aging rapidly, agricultural production has lost its appeal for young people.

The average age of men and women engaged in agricultural production is now over 50. According to the Agriculture Law, farmers/villagers should be supported with at least 1 percent of the GDP, but this support has never reached 1 percent and has not been paid regularly. One of the important conditions for farmers to benefit from existing support is to be registered in the ÇKS. Those with 2 decares of land and those with 2,000 decares of land are both required to register with the ÇKS. It is said, "If you have a ÇKS registration, you cannot benefit from the bonus we will give, even if you are retired." Many small farmer families have perhaps not even earned as much money as the bonus to be given after setting aside the food they will consume. It seems that this is not important to the government. What is important is that those who practice subsistence family farming are also disconnected from production and that the corporate food system is further strengthened. It is clear that food that has passed into the hands of corporations will turn into a tool of threat against people. Recent world history is full of countless examples of this. The existence of small farmers and villagers is a guarantee for us not to experience or to overcome food crises.

The government must turn back from this mistake and immediately pay the bonus to retired farmers without discrimination.

News Source: 12punto