Miller Magazine Issue 108 / December 2018

22 MILLER / DECEMBER 2018 NEWS Ahmet Güldal, the General Manager of the Turkish Grain Board Purchase price of products determined in line with market conditions: TMO Ahmet Güldal, the General Manager of the Turkish Grain Board, shared his opinion about the role that the board will play in the product market. “The purchase price of products will be determined by taking produc- tion cost, inflation, profit margin, and local and foreign market prices into consideration, and this price will be shared with farmers. No longer, they will say, ‘We are in losses’,” Güldal said. He reminded that the board has a regulation duty on barley, wheat, rice, and also types of pulses– together with the sequential authorization-, adding that it has du- ties about the products such as dried grape and nut se- asonally. The general manager said the board’s aim is to buy farmers’ product at the market price and to prevent them from facing losses. In doing this, the balance betwe- en customers and the local market should be protected. The Turkish Grain Board is supposed to be more ac- tive in the new era, according to Güldal. “Regulating the market, TMO should directly affect the production plan of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry – po- licy maker. Rather than stepping in the market after a certain level, TMO will be more active in the planting period, not just the purchase period. We have to form a projection by monitoring farmer during the planting period. We need to determine the required measures that we take in the good and bad scenario. The essen- tial application in production planning is the support. In order to increase the production of a particular product and meet the need of the country, the plan is needed. In this regard, we want to present data to the ministry. For example, if there were a decline in the cereal plan- ting, we want to provide incentives and supports to increase the production,” he said. FARMERS TO CONTINUE PRODUCTION The senior official said that TMO would announce the product’s price 15-20 days before the purchase period. “The purchase price of products will be determined by taking into consideration of production cost, inflation, profit margin, and local and foreign market prices, and this price will be shared with farmers. No longer, they will say, ‘We are in losses.’ By determining parameters more realistically, we will ensure the producer’s satis- faction. We will have a sustainable production that will answer the country’s need instead of having unstable production. Formerly, the purchase price is determined by increasing the previous years’ price at a certain level. The purchase price should be determined more realis- tically so that the farmer will not give up the producti- on,” Güldal said. He maintained that the board’s aim is to affect the incentive mechanisms in order to increase the farmers’ pleasure. He said there would not be an import during the har- vest period. “This decision will be in force for all produ- cts. We will wait so that the harvest will be completed. If this product is cultivated and is not put on the market, we do not consider importing this product. When peop- le hear the import, the value of a product goes down. We do not want farmers to experience this,” he said. The Turkish Grain Board (TMO) will prevent farmers from being crushed by the inflati- on. Ahmet Güldal, the General Manager of TMO, said that the purchase price of produ- cts will be determined by taking the produ- ction cost, inflation, profit margin, and local and foreign market prices into consideration.