As the economic crisis deepens in Turkey, animal breeders are among the worst affected by rising costs.

Animal breeders living in tents in Adana city complained about increasing forage prices and said they are “weighed down” by the financial burden.

Tonnes of fodder (hay) have been imported in recent years from foreign countries due to the restrictive policies on agriculture, but increasing prices are hitting animal breeders hard.

Animal breeders can buy one tonne of green fodder for around 800 Turkish lira, while white fodder is around 900 TL per tonne. They say these prices are high and the added concern of the Covid-19 pandemic has only made things more difficult.

Ahmet Çakır, an animal breeder in Adana, complained about the lack of meadows and the increasing prices, saying, “If we buy a bale of hay in the summer time, It is 10 TL. One pouch of barley is 150 TL. We have come to the point where we can afford only the daily needs of animals”.

Another animal breeder, İbrahim Çelik, said there was no subsidy for animal breeding. Çakır also drew attention to health conditions during the pandemic and said the state did nothing for animal breeders who lived in tents.