With feed prices soaring, farmers in eastern Turkey forced to sell animals for slaughter

İdris Yılmaz / DUVAR

As the economy spirals out of control in Turkey, the rising cost of feed in the country has forced many farmers in the eastern province of Van to sell their animals to butchers at extremely low prices. As a result, the price of meat in the province has sunk to less than 35 Turkish Liras a kilo.

The rapid devaluation of the Turkish lira against foreign currencies has made the country an attractive market for foreign shoppers. In Van, now, Iraqi citizens have begun coming across the border to buy low-cost meat. This is a reversal of the normal flow of goods in the region - in the past, Turkish people crossed into Iraq to benefit from the low costs of a less-powerful economy.

“We used to buy goods from Iraq because our money was valuable against the Iraqi currency. Now, Iraqis come and buy goods from us. How did we get here?” Kenan Köstekçi, a farmer in Van, said.

Animal husbandry has in essence come to a halt in the region, farmers say. Every day, as the currency devalues further, they accumulate losses. Köstekçi said that at this rate, the region could run out of animals to slaughter in a few months. Though prices are low now, farmers think that they could skyrocket soon when animals become scarce.

“If it continues like this, after two months, there will be no trace of the cattle anymore. We will have to be dependent on foreign markets,” he said. 

Yasin Yalçın has been working in animal husbandry in Van for the past 25 years and said this year is the hardest he’s experienced. He said that with the current free-fall of the exchange rate, he and his family are on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s impossible, he said, to pay for feed and medicine and to raise the animals, leaving farmers with little choice but to kill them.

“In the face of this, no one will be able to keep an animal next year,” he said, “This situation means that we will have to forget about milk and cheese.”

Despite the low prices of meat, butchers in the region say they are unable to make a profit. With the rise in food prices and the loss of value of the lira, Turkish citizens’ purchasing power has drastically decreased. 

“If you ask us if we are making a profit, no, we’re not. Although the price of meat is cheap, there is not enough interest because there is no purchasing power,” Mustafa Bakan, a butcher in the Erciş district of Van, said.

(English version by Erin O'Brien)