Hundreds of farmers in several Turkish provinces are suffering heavy losses due to recent flooding and frost, threatening to repeat last year's troubles for the agriculture industry, a local union warned on Sunday.

Turkish Union of Agricultural Chambers (TZOB) President Şemsi Bayraktar said in a written statement on Sunday that the union has been receiving reports of serious crop damage in different provinces, including Edirne, Muğla, Sakarya and Bursa. Bayraktar said farmers expect the government to offer measures to compensate them for the damage.

Consumer unions last week warned that rain, snow and blizzards throughout the country would result in great yield losses and cause the price of fruits and vegetables to rise.

Bayraktar added that new measures are needed to stop these problems from growing. Earlier, the government has said farmers and producers who lose at least 30 percent of their crops, animals, plants and greenhouses can defer their debts to Ziraat Bankası and the Turkish Agriculture Credit Cooperative Central Union (TTKKMB).

During 2014, Turkish farmers had to deal with many weather-related problems and many demanded compensation from the state for financial losses they sustained. After severe drought and high temperatures, especially in January and February last year, trees bloomed earlier and became vulnerable to frost damage.

Source - http://www.todayszaman.com/