Impact of agricultural frost may last for up to 3 years: Report

ISTANBUL

The impact of the agricultural frost that hit several provinces in April is likely to last for three years and affect 1 million workers, according to a preliminary report by a parliamentary commission.

Members of the commission recently traveled to frost-hit 13 provinces last week to assess the situation. The commission’s preliminary will be sent to public institutions to facilitate urgent decision-making.

The reports concluded that the damage in young fruit orchards is expected to result in an income loss spread over two to three years, while some growers are also estimated to face the risk of not being able to harvest in subsequent seasons.

The direct impact of the climate disaster is expected to result in the loss of crops and trees, as well as employment losses for nearly one million agricultural and seasonal workers this year, according to the report.

Although our producers have opted for a second planting to compensate for losses from the initial sowing of field crops, they have faced significant economic bottlenecks due to the ongoing increases in agricultural input costs such as fertilizer, pesticides and seeds, the report said.

Strengthening and expanding the technological infrastructure of meteorological early warning systems will ensure that all producers, especially small-scale farmers, receive timely information about risks such as frost, hail and floods through SMS, mobile applications and media channels, the report recommended.

Loans should be made available urgently to farmers to help them cover the additional costs of maintaining damaged trees and preparing for the upcoming production season, the report said.

A temporary integrated registration system should be established to ensure fair access to support for those actively engaged in production but not registered in the Farmer Registration System, yet affected by agricultural frost, the report also recommended.

In May, the Central Bank warned that agricultural frost increased the upside risks to unprocessed food prices, particularly fruit prices, for the upcoming period.

In May, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices declined 0.7 percent month-on-month. The annual increase in food prices was 32.9 percent, remaining below the headline inflation of 35.4 percent.

Unprocessed food and fruit prices dropped 3 percent and 4.7 percent monthly in May, respectively.