Tobacco producers started to plant seedlings in the soil – denizlihaber.com

Farmers producing tobacco in Denizli started to grow the seedlings in February from under the cover they call ‘hearth’. In Kale, Beyağaç, Tavas, Güney, Buldan and Çal districts, where tobacco growers are concentrated, workers place seedlings in the fields with the help of the machine on the tractor. Seedlings collected from under the greenhouse in the first light of the morning are met with the soil one by one by seasonal workers. In Denizli, which is at the top of Turkey’s tobacco warehouse list, the seedlings will begin to be collected one by one 2 months after they are planted, and then they will be dried in closed greenhouses.

“Our source of income is generally producing tobacco.”
Beyağaç Mayor Sezai Pütün, who is a tobacco producer and also won the election from the Re-Welfare Party in 2024, said, “Tobacco is an indispensable part of Beyağaç district. It starts very early in the morning and continues until the time of evening adhan. Crushing and growing tobacco has become a little easier than before. Our citizens here deal with tobacco, at least a little or a lot. Our source of income is generally producing tobacco. Tobacco cultivation begins in October, after the field is plowed, fertilizers are applied in January and the land is made ready. Places are prepared for growing tobacco seedlings around April. By the end of May, the seedlings grow and planting begins in the field, followed by hoeing and breaking operations. Now the process starts in February and is kept under cover for 10 to 15 days. The greenhouse cover was then opened and left open for 10 days. “These seedlings will be removed from here and planted in the prepared field with machines,” he said.

Women growing tobacco start working early in the morning
Women working as tobacco producers and seasonal workers explained that the field was cleared in October for tobacco seedlings to grow, and then the seeds were planted in February. Stating that they spent a total of 8 months for tobacco seedlings, the women said that they started working early in the morning. Hatice Arlık said, “We come at 7 in the morning and plant our tobacco until the evening.”
Zümra Arlık, one of the worker women, said, “After taking the seedlings from the field, we place the seedlings in the soil opened with a tractor with the help of a machine and plant them in the ground. It continues like this until the evening. “These processes will be completed within 2 months and we will start harvesting our tobacco in June,” he said.

“Manpower is required, they are erected one by one”
Stating that growing and collecting tobacco has many stages, and planting tobacco seedlings in the field, Mayor Pütün said, “Tobacco business requires manpower, it is planted one by one. “No matter how many machines there are, tobacco farming is useless without manpower,” he said.