Sinan Satmaz, who lives in Hatay's Arsuz district, survived the February 6, 2023 earthquakes with his wife and three children because his house did not completely collapse thanks to his tractor. Satmaz continues production with state support.
The earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş also affected Sinan Satmaz's house in Üçgüllük Neighborhood. Satmaz lived in this house with his wife Nazlıcan (26) and children Seher (7), Ali Alparslan (5), and Sera (4).
The violent tremor caused significant damage to the house's columns. However, the tractor right next to it prevented the house from completely collapsing.
The family, who escaped unharmed from the heavily damaged house held up by the tractor, stayed with relatives for a while.
Sinan Satmaz, with the help of teams, extracted his tractor, which had prevented his house from collapsing, from the rubble and had it repaired.
Satmaz, who farms with his tractor that helped him hold onto life, received support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Project for the Activation of Agricultural Land Use (TAKE). Within this scope, he obtained soybean seeds with a 75 percent grant.
With this support, Satmaz began cultivating soybeans on a 50-decare area, in addition to corn, wheat, and parsley.
Satmaz, who uses a drip irrigation system and drone spraying on his land, plans to harvest his soybean production, strengthened by state support, in October.
Sinan Satmaz stated that the disaster turned their lives upside down. Noting that they were able to continue production with state support after the earthquake, Satmaz said, "When we experienced the disaster that night, it was the tractor and trailer that saved our lives. If it weren't for them, perhaps we wouldn't be here right now. We are trying to continue our production with the support our state provides us."
Satmaz stated that with the soybean seed support he received, he diversified his crop pattern and strengthened his production. Emphasizing that soybean cultivation is easier than corn, which is widely produced in the region, Satmaz said, "Compared to corn, the cost has dropped by half. Our goal is to introduce this to the region, set an example for other farmers, and increase this production even more. Our farmers here are a bit unfamiliar with this topic; it's being planted in our region for the first time. Soybeans are very compatible with our soil, and the cost is lower." Satmaz noted that the soybeans he cultivated for the first time this year are a valuable product with their stalks, husks, and oil, and he plans to expand their cultivation.
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