From Farm Labor to Entrepreneurship

A young man who went from Şanlıurfa to Antalya as a farm worker, rose from being a laborer to a boss by establishing the same type of greenhouse in his hometown. Kadir Ziri, a 29-year-old resident of Suruç district in Şanlıurfa, went to Antalya as a farm worker in 2016. After working in a greenhouse for 7 years, Ziri returned to his hometown Suruç in Şanlıurfa. Planning to establish his own greenhouse in the rural Topçu Mahallesi where his family lives, Ziri built a makeshift place. Quickly starting to earn money, Ziri improved his business and set up a technological greenhouse. Expanding the area of the greenhouse, Ziri became the boss of his own business within 2 years. Producing around 25 tons of tomatoes per hectare, Kadir Ziri meets a large part of Suruç district’s tomato demand.
Ziri, who worked in Antalya and established a greenhouse in Suruç, stated, ‘We have expenses of 150,000 TL for fertilizers and pesticides. Another 150,000 TL is for seedlings. In total, there are expenses of 300,000 TL. So far, our sales have reached almost up to 750,000 TL. We harvest 20 tons from one hectare. With good care, we can also get 25 tons of product.’
‘We almost meet the tomato demand of Suruç. We have recently added another 5 hectares. Our total area will be 15-16 hectares. If the government supports us, we can do even better. We have another 30 hectares of land here, we can cover every inch,’ said Ziri, who also mentioned doing the same business in Antalya.
Kadir Ziri, who sells tomatoes for an average of 12 to 13 TL per kilogram, stated that the shelf price ranges from 15 TL to 25 TL.