The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) has made payments totaling TL 70.80 million ($2.08 million) to 2,797 farmers as part of the first phase of its Farmer Support Program, launched to revitalize agriculture and livestock in the earthquake-affected provinces.

According to a statement from Kızılay, the first phase of the Farmer Support Program, implemented following the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on Feb. 6, has been completed.

The program aims to help farmers whose agricultural tools were damaged in the six provinces most affected by the earthquake continue their agriculture and livestock activities and support production in the region. The first payment of TL 70.87 million was made in two phases to a total of 2,797 farmers.

The distribution of support includes 538 farmers in Kahramanmaraş, 439 in Hatay, 388 in Malatya, 591 in Adıyaman, 455 in Gaziantep and 386 in Osmaniye. The farmers benefiting from the first phase of the program are primarily small-scale producers whose main livelihood is agriculture and livestock, and who have experienced losses of products and equipment.

While determining which farmers would receive support, Kızılay collaborated with the Provincial Directorates of Agriculture in the six provinces and required that farmers be registered in the Farmer Registration System (ÇKS) or the Animal Registration System (TÜRKVET). The amount of support to be provided was determined based on the production capacity of the farmers, according to criteria such as the area planted or the number of large or small livestock owned.

With the Farmer Support Program initiated to revive agriculture and livestock-based production in the earthquake-affected provinces, Kızılay aims to assist producers in acquiring agricultural inputs, equipment, raw materials and other supplies to help them recover. Farmers benefiting from the first phase of support will receive their second phase payments in November, provided they are deemed suitable at the end of the monitoring and evaluation process. Thus, the total support provided by Kızılay through the Farmer Support Program this year will reach TL 141.74 million.

Following the Feb. 6 earthquakes, Kızılay provided cash assistance totaling TL 24.76 million to 860 farmers as part of the program launched to stimulate agriculture and livestock in the earthquake region and continues its efforts to support production.