Turkish cut flower growers are concerned as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs tightened provisions concerning fresh vegetable and fruit exports to Russia to prevent any interruption of trade with it.
Russia had imposed barriers on the import of some vegetables from Turkey in May 2005, saying products had fallen short of Russian standards and were affected by the Mediterranean fruit fly. Many Turkish farmers had suffered losses as their primary market disappeared, though that was a temporary bottleneck. The problem was solved after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and personally asked him to help lift the bans.
In an attempt to avoid facing the same problem again, the ministry has been applying strict measures to producers to force them to comply with Russian standards. However, it has increased the strictness of the measures even more only recently. As part of these latest arrangements, the concept of “zero tolerance” was introduced. According to this, if signs of any disease or thrips, small tannish yellow or brown wedge-shaped insects mainly found inside flower petals, are found in a floriculture operation, all the surrounding locations will also be designated as “diseased.” Until all diseases are eradicated from the area, farmers will not be able to get the inspection report necessary to continue production. These farmers will not be allowed to export their goods in stock, either. The former procedure allowed producers to continue production in the clean parts of their facilities and export goods cultivated in these parts.
Flower producers in Antalya in particular are extremely worried by this newest regulation, saying such a step would be a serious blow to exports to Russia. For Lütfi Göbüş, the deputy president of Antalya Union of Cut Flower Exporters, “zero tolerance” is not applicable in the flower growing business. “It will end the sale of cut flowers to the Russian market,” he claimed.
The ministry compiled the new regulations pertaining to the controls on exports of fresh vegetables, fruits and cut flowers as a circular containing five articles. This new booklet was delivered to all related institutions by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Deputy General Director of Protection and Control Durali Koçak.
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