Hard hoeing work in the journey of cotton to thread in the Amik Plain

HATAY (İHA) – Despite temperatures exceeding 40 degrees in Amik Plain, one of Turkey’s leading cotton production centers, workers are clearing cotton plants from weeds by hoeing. The daily wage of the workers, who work 9 hours a day, is 515 TL.
While the wounds in earthquake-stricken Hatay continue to heal, the farmers in Amik Plain, which is Turkey’s agricultural product production center, continue their work without interruption. After harvesting wheat, farmers had planted cotton. The challenging hoeing work of agricultural workers to clean the weeds surrounding the cotton plants, as they sprout, continues in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees. Agricultural workers, who continue hoeing in Terzihüyük Village of Reyhanlı district, earn 515 TL daily by working for 9 hours. Starting their shift at 6 in the morning, the agricultural workers work until 3 in the afternoon to cope with the extreme temperatures.
“Workers receive 515 TL daily per person”
Sergeant Ömer Öztırak, who stated that they continue their work to clean the weeds in the cotton, said, “The journey of cotton has begun. We are the ones who make the first hoeing of cotton. Things are going very well. It is easier when the weather is cool, but normally it gets hot. The yield of the field varies according to the weeds. The area we are working on now is a 150-acre field. A 150-acre field can be completed in two days. If there were weeds, it would have taken a week. They pay 575 TL per person for wages. Workers receive 515 TL as wages. Captains take 60 TL out of 575 TL. There is no one working double shifts here. We work from 6 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. There are no easy tasks during this time.
“We dig with a hoe all day long, and I am 55 years old, it’s hard for me”
Emine Uğraş, a 55-year-old agricultural worker, stated that hoeing weeds is difficult work and said, “We hoe in the field for cotton here. We hit the weeds with a hoe here. We have been doing this job for 10 years, but they only pay us 500 TL. This money is not enough for us, and this job is tiring. We dig with a hoe all day long. I am 55 years old, it’s hard for me.”
“We clean weeds in the cotton field all day long”
18-year-old Rabia Ali, who works in the cotton field to support her family, said, “We hoe in the cotton field. We clean weeds in the cotton field all day long. Today, luckily, the field was very nice and the weather was normal. There were not many weeds in the field today. That’s why it was not very tiring. Working here is tough, but we are forced to support my family.”