The only winners are international monopolies: Olive production on the verge of collapse
Baskets remained empty during the olive harvest, and the reason is the lack of support for local production. Producer Yazar asked “While war-torn Syria has increased its production, is it possible to explain the decline in domestic production with drought?”
Bilge Su Yıldırım
After the olive harvest, the first products of the season began to be processed in olive oil factories. The yield expectation, however, is quite low. The drought that has been intensifying for five years and has reached the level of a disaster this season, affecting all agricultural regions, has also hit olive production hard. Faced with this drought, a result of the global climate crisis, production that has not been supported by public policies has come to the point of collapse. The lack of support for local production has meant anxiety for producers and exorbitant prices for consumers.
THE COASTS ARE BEING PLUNDERED
Hasan Cengiz Yazar, an olive producer in Ayvalık, Balıkesir, said he expected this year’s yield to be quite low. Noting that the yield was already low last year and that he expected a further decline this year, Yazar told BirGün:
“Drought has taken over the entire Northern Aegean, and the rains came very late. As a result, the crop is scarce, and costs remain the same. For this reason, many producers are considering not harvesting. Because when the yield is low, the cost of harvesting isn’t worth it. The cost of picking is already as high as that of olive oil itself. Most producers haven’t even managed to cover their expenses. That’s why production is rapidly declining in the Northern Aegean. Producers say ‘Even if I work my whole life, I can’t earn a proper living.’ They have a livelihood problem, families to support, children to feed. So they try to sell their olive groves. The so-called ‘Occupation Law’ has also had an impact. There’s coastal plunder all over the Aegean, quarries, hydroelectric plants, geothermal plants… it never ends. The land where production can be done is shrinking every day. Within this picture, producers are being forced away from production.”
AN AGRICULTURAL PLAN IS NEEDED
Yazar said that producers have been left alone in the face of the climate crisis and continued:
“The climate crisis is global, and Europe is experiencing it even worse than we are. Spain has been suffering from severe drought for a long time, yet it remains the world leader in olive production. Italy, Greece… you name it. Even in war-torn Syria olive production is increasing, while ours is falling. Can this really be explained only by drought? The state does not protect producers against international monopolies, and even advises them: ‘Sell your products, we’ll buy from the monopolies.’ Producers can only return to production if the state prepares a national production plan and supports production. Europe, for example, has introduced a serious support measure of about one euro per litre of olive oil. Without support, as costs rise under the shadow of crisis, this is passed on to consumers. I can only produce for 150 lira, if I sell for 200-250 to make a living, how can people afford it? Is it possible under these economic conditions? In Spain and Italy per capita olive oil consumption is 32 litres. In our country it’s only one litre, and I suspect that number is boosted by the Aegean people who use oil from their own olives. As a result of these chain policies, both producers and consumers are strained, and the only winners are the monopolies.”
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Tek kazanan uluslararası tekeller: Zeytin üretimi durmanın eşiğinde, published in BirGün newspaper on October 13, 2025.
