Due to the widespread infection of tomato plants by the tuta absoluta, or tomato moth, genetically modified organisms, or GMO, products could be legalized within one or two years, according to a hothouse owner in the Aegean province of Aydın.
Sel Group Hothouses production manager Mustafa Külcü said that a bacterium called bacillus thuringiensis was used as a protective agent against the tomato moth. He said this bacteria was transmitted in the DNA of some tomato strains. “The firms will come and say, ‘When we transmit this gene in the DNA we will be able to get rid of the moth.’ Or they will come up with other genetically modified tomato strains and manipulate the farmers. Since many farmers had to bear a loss this year due to the infection, they will be vulnerable to this manipulation.”
He also said that these companies could even use political pressure against the ban of GMO products, taking advantage of the economic loss stemming from the pest infection. “I am definitely sure that this is going to happen,” he said.
Tomato cultivation areas may shrink further
Külcü said that after the moth infected tomatoes, cultivation areas shrank considerably. As a result there was a gap between the launch of the first hothouse yields and the of the last field yields, which directly affected the price of tomatoes.
“As we gathered, in the Antalya hothouses there is a 30- 40 percent decrease of tomato cultivation areas. After the hothouse yield comes to the market the price of the fruit will fall to a certain extent, but I do not predict a drastic fall until January or February.”
He said that all the signs showed that it was high time that Turkey shifted to professional hothouse cultivation, which has been actualized semi-professionally so far.
He also said that there were other pests affecting tomatoes in addition to the tomato moth. “When all these come together the cultivation costs increase too much, because even biological pest control costs as much as chemical control. These costs cause the tomato cost per kilogram to climb to extreme levels. And the fruit ceases to be a cheap commodity.”
He added that this was a truth consumers must learn to live with. “When the peasants start tomato cultivation, they first will fail in their pest control against the tomato moth. Therefore, they will bear a loss. Then they will totally give up because they have continually borne a loss.” He said that this meant the constantly shrinking cultivation areas for tomatoes were doomed to shrink further.
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