40 million tons of grain is harvested across Turkey from a land of 12.5 million hectares whereas 400 thousand tons of product loss, which corresponds to 1 percent of the total, amounts to 400 million Turkish Liras.
While the grain harvest in Turkey is going on, a large amount of source is going to waste due to the grain loss occurring during the harvest done with a combine harvester. 1-percent grain loss reaches a size of 400 million Liras annually. Hüseyin Çevik, President of Konya Chamber of Commerce (KTB), said that adjusting the combine harvester by grain type would minimize the grain loss in Konya which is deemed as the “grain store” of Turkey where wheat and barley harvest is continuing.
HTB President Hüseyin Çevik said that a land of 12.5 million hectares will be harvested in Turkey. “We have 15 thousand combine harvesters on a land of 12.5 million hectares. These devices started to be renewed thanks to the state support in the recent years. However, apart from this renewal, we have to transfer some of our technical information to combine harvester drivers. These drivers should be trained and obliged to get certification documents. If a driver is trained well enough, he will harvest properly. Combine harvesters have to be adjusted for each grain. If this adjustment is done, we can minimize the loss. The less the grain loss is, the more income for the country and farmers will be,” he added.
“400 THOUSAND TONS OF LOSS”
KTB President Çevik stressed that a 1-percent grain loss in the harvest corresponds to 350-400 thousand tons of products and this is equal to an economic loss of 400 million liras pointing out that this loss can be avoided through training. Çevik said, “When the grain crushing is 2 percent on average, this standard. Yet, we should think ‘Why are we not decreasing this to 1 percent? Why not below 1 percent?’ In a country where around 35-40 million tons product is harvested, a 1-percent loss means 350-400 thousand tons of product. And this is equal to 400 million liras. Why do we lose this blessing of God due to the lack of technical know-how? Combine harvester owners and farmers should pay attention to technical matters during the harvest. If people endowed with technical know-how use the combine harvester, we may avoid grain loss.”
On the other hand, it is reported that there is some amount of loss also in stems and hays although not as much as in grains. Agriculturalists say that the total economic value of stems and hays which are the resource of roughage which is the easiest feed to be produced for the livestock is around 10 billion Liras, it is forecast that approximately 2.5 million tons of hay will be produced in Konya this season and its value will exceed 1 billion Liras.