Protesting the prices given by middlemen in Antalya, the Ejder producer distributed truckloads of Ejder fruits to citizens free of charge in Manavgat Cumhuriyet Square.
Drawing attention to the fact that dragon fruit requires labor day and night, Kamil Arıkan said, “I collected these fruits last week. The buyer came and wanted to buy them from me for 30 liras. I have been waiting for a week. They did not give me a price above 30 liras. I decided to distribute them to the citizens for free, saying that if the producer does not earn, no one should earn.”
Arıkan stated that middlemen and wholesalers buy dragon fruit from producers for 40-50 liras and that it is sold for at least 150-200 liras in the market and supermarkets, and said, “It is halal for our citizens, may they eat it with pleasure.”
Speaking on behalf of the dragon producers, Ali Yılmaz from the Yeniköy neighborhood said the following:
“Today, we want to share our bleeding wound with you together with our producer friends. I would like to start the topic with an example.”
“Until recently, since cars were not produced in our country, we were buying cars produced by foreigners. Last year, we started using our own cars. We were proud and happy. Many of our friends sold their European cars and bought domestic cars. Dragon fruit grows only in the Far East in the world. Dragon fruit has been produced under cover in our country for 5 years. Currently, production is carried out on a thousand acres in our country.”
“We do not receive any support in terms of exporting and marketing our products. They want to buy our products from us for 50 liras. When they buy them for 50 liras, they sell them abroad for the same price, and when they buy them for 150 liras, they sell them for the same price. Our producer friends have taken on millions of liras in debt to build these greenhouses. They work day and night to be able to buy products. Our producer has reached a point where he cannot cover his loan with the income he earns from the products he grows. We produce, we only want support in terms of sales and marketing.”
