Cherry producer cannot find workers for 2,000 TL per day

Harvest has begun in Yeşilyurt Dalbastı cherries, a geographical indication registered product of Malatya. The biggest problem for the producers this year is the difficulty in finding laborers to work for a daily wage of 2,000 TL. Yeşilyurt Dalbastı cherries, with their unique taste that complements the mouth after apricots in Malatya, registered as a geographical indication, delight the producers both in terms of quality and yield this year. Yeşilyurt Chamber of Agriculture President Doğan Solmaz stated that they have started the harvest in cherries and their products are very productive. Solmaz, emphasizing that the Dalbastı cherries with geographical indication are of very high quality in terms of aroma this year, said, ‘It is a cherry that has made a name for itself in Turkey. Hopefully, if exporters come, our producers will be happy this year as well. Our products are of very high quality this season, the fruit calibration is very good.’ President Solmaz also expressed that they expect around 800 tons of cherry harvest in the district this year, saying, ‘We hope that our cherry producers will receive the value they deserve this year. As you know, we experienced a major disaster last year. Therefore, our farmers are in a disadvantaged position.’ Solmaz, also pointing out that one of the biggest problems for the producers this year is finding laborers, said, ‘The biggest problem is labor shortage. Local workers are having difficulty finding work because they have nowhere to stay when they go outside the province. The cost of a laborer is 2,000 TL per day. They will harvest an average of 60 kilograms of cherries per day.’ President Solmaz also mentioned that the price per kilogram of cherries in the market ranges from 60 to 75 TL, and he said, ‘Our farmers cannot get the earnings of a year’s worth of labor, but the middlemen earn what the farmers cannot earn in two years in just one month by taking 15-20 TL per kilo. We want this grievance to be resolved.’ Solmaz also stated that a hygienic collection area should be established for cherry producers, saying that this way, exporters would come to Yeşilyurt more. Cherry producer Mehmet Ali Özendi stated that they have difficulty in finding laborers to pick cherries this year. Özendi said that he cannot find laborers to pick cherries for 2,000 TL a day, and added, ‘At a time when even a civil servant can earn 40,000 TL, we cannot find laborers to work for 60,000 TL a month. Due to the lack of laborers, I am forced to pick them myself, and there is a risk of the product remaining on the tree as I cannot keep up.’