Problems of tobacco producers conveyed to the Minister of Agriculture

Sinan Ahmet, President of Trakya Tobacco Producers Cooperative, met with Agriculture and Food Minister Yorgos Yeorgantas on Tuesday, September 20.
In his post on the subject, Sinan Ahmet stated that they went to Athens with Vice President Halil İbram Muharrem on Tuesday, September 20, upon the invitation of the Minister of Agriculture, and conveyed the problems of tobacco producers to the minister.
Sinan Ahmet stated that during the meeting, the damage to be experienced in yield due to the hill disease was explained effectively in the region and the minister said that the losses of the producers would be compensated.
Stating that they conveyed that the excise duty on fuel is not refunded to the producers, the head of the cooperative, Sinan Ahmet, said, “Concerning this issue, the minister stated that some producers have missing documents and that the missing documents must be completed by 30 October 2022.” said.
Sinan Ahmet noted the following: “It was conveyed to them that the failure of ELGA insurance to compensate some of the diseases seen in tobacco is a big problem for tobacco producers. Upon this, the Minister promised that changes will be made in the ELGA law regarding various diseases and viruses that are not subject to compensation and that it will be discussed in the general assembly in a short time.
An important topic discussed is that the payments of EFKA (Farmers Health Insurance) are very high for us small farmers and many producers cannot effort this insurance. It was stated that EFKA (Farmers Health Insurance) paid the same amount to farmers cultivating 10 decares of field and farmers cultivating 100 decares of fields, and a new regulation should be made taking into account the small farmers situation. The Minister listened to this with interest and promised to deal with the issue.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister said that he agreed with us that the issues reported are serious problems, that our requests are just and reasonable, and that will and hard work are required to resolve these issues.”