The commission meeting began with a presentation by Kamil Özdemir, Director of Agricultural Insurance and Natural Disasters. The presentation addressed the impact of the agricultural frost events that occurred in 2025 on agricultural production. It was noted that the frost events that occurred in April this year had a particularly significant impact on fruit product groups. It was noted that 34 of the 65 provinces affected by frost were severely impacted. It was determined that the frost had a significant impact on 16 fruit groups.
TARSİM (Agricultural Insurance Pool Management) General Manager Bekir Engürülü noted the increase in the number of disasters, stating that this is the new normal in terms of climate. Engürülü reported that 108,000 claims were received due to the frost disaster and that 21 billion 393 million lira in damages were identified. Engürülü stated that 1 billion 112 million lira has been paid out to date following the damage assessments, which included the frost events that occurred in February and March.
According to TARSİM records, the greatest damage was 11 billion lira in grapes, followed by 3 billion 146 million lira in apricots. In hazelnuts, damage was estimated at 2 billion 729 million lira.
It was noted that the provinces most affected by frost damage were Manisa, Malatya and Ordu, in that order. The damage in Manisa was determined to be 10 billion 966 million lira. Following the presentations, commission members who spoke pointed out that damage assessments outside of TARSİM were insufficient. The presentations by the ministry and TARSİM officials were also deemed inadequate by AKP MPs.
CHP Adana MP Ayhan Barut said, “TARSİM needs to be made functional. A disaster similar to the material devastation caused by the 6 February earthquakes has occurred. Whether TARSİM exists or not, we demand that the producers’ losses be compensated. The extent of the concrete damage is not yet clear. Regulations in favour of producers need to be made in TARSİM. If it were affordable, farmers would not avoid joining TARSİM. The frost commission was established late. President Erdoğan stated, ‘The losses of both TARSİM-insured and non-insured farmers will be compensated.’ However, non-insured farmers have not received any compensation yet.”
Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Sigortalı çiftçinin zararı 21 milyar lira: 1,1 milyar TL’si karşılandı, published in BirGün newspaper on May 29, 2025.
