The sauces produced by women have been exported to the Netherlands for 25 years.

The Kulaca Agricultural Development Cooperative in İnegöl has opened the tomato paste season. In the facilities where 90% of the workers are women, 1,400 tons of pepper paste will be exported to the Netherlands.

In the tomato paste production facilities in İnegöl, where women’s power is utilized, the tomato pastes produced throughout the season will be exported to various parts of Turkey, while the pepper pastes will be exported to the Netherlands. Ahmet Uğur, the president of the Kulaca Agricultural Development Cooperative, stated that the paste season has begun, saying, “This year, the price of tomatoes, which was 2-1.80 TL, is now promised to be 3.70-3.5 TL, so we cannot compete. Additionally, due to the policy applied for the past two years, paste producers have been unable to sell their pastes. There is paste in the warehouses.

Our exports have increased
“If we look at our own business, we are producing a limited amount for the domestic market. We consume this because our paste is a brand in the domestic market. However, we have been exporting to the Netherlands for 25 years. This continues, and even this year, it has increased by 20%. If we are successful in these, neither our farmers nor our workers will suffer. Because we employ a lot of female workers. There are approximately 80-100 female workers. In addition, we have 10-15 male workers, and this continues for 2-3 months. Since our business is seasonal, it continues this way. But economically, as a cooperative, we are not experiencing difficulties. Of course, our profit margins will decrease, but we believe we will overcome this crisis. Last year, our exports were 1,000 tons, and this year it has increased to 1,400 tons. Also, the products we export to the Netherlands, as they sell back the products they buy from us, some firms in Turkey want to do the same process. We are also assisting them. Therefore, workers will get more peppers, and the pepper sauce we refer to will also enter the export market again. They have orders. For this reason, our exports will approximately reach 1,400 tons due to the exports of those friends. Now, of course, it is uncertain when and what will happen to the foreign currency in Turkey. But I think that some of the recent price increases in natural gas and electricity will be covered. Therefore, we will not incur losses, but we will not make as much profit as in previous years, because we have to protect the farmers. Today, the price of peppers has risen to 8 TL, 10 TL. We cannot buy them for less than 15 TL. But we will buy from our own farmers. We have relationships with contracted farmers, and they are controlled. Our products are purchased and cultivated according to sustainable agriculture farmer certification rules. For this reason, we are moving forward steadily.

Our export is 1 million dollars
“If you ask about the economic situation of exports, it can reach up to 1 million dollars. So if there are no problems with the products, if they do not go backward, we also send them for control. Even though we have to control a lot, due to the surrounding plants, recent pesticide applications are causing some problems. Although we also control these. But generally, I believe we will bring 1 million dollars to our country.