December 8, 2023
The new member of the Cropto Token family, Cropto Hazelnut Tokens, have been freshly harvested and are resting in storage, with the short name CROF. Previously, for wheat, barley, and corn tokens, we used the first letters of their English names: Wheat, Barley, and Corn (CROPTO+W,B,C).
When creating a token for hazelnuts, our team thought this time the abbreviation should be in Turkish, so CRO(PTO)+F(ındık)=CROF. Like hazelnuts, the CROF Token has emerged from Turkey, the country where most of the world's hazelnut production takes place. With the "F" letter at the end of the token's name, we want to show friends and foes: Our vision and intention is to give this valuable agricultural product the honorable place it deserves in world trade.
The word "Fındık" (hazelnut) is derived from the word "Pontik", which comes from "Pontus Euxinus", the ancient name of the Black Sea. Plinus recorded that it was called "Pontus nut" because it was brought from the Pontus coast. Hazelnuts spread to Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and European countries from the Eastern Black Sea, taking its name with it. The word for hazelnut in various languages includes: Farsi "fonduk", Arabic "bunduk", Latin "nux", German "haselnuss", French "noisette", English "hazelnut", Greek "leptokarion", Armenian "kalin", Tatar "çitlevük", Russian "funduk". (Source:1)
A large portion of this magical product, around 3/4, is grown in our country. However, Turkish hazelnuts, which are considered first in quality and taste, are facing increasing competition: Countries like Georgia, Chile, and the USA are now also producing hazelnuts, and our country's long-standing status as the sole producer is gradually diminishing.
We are unfortunately observing developments that could shake our centuries-old ability to be the number one producer of hazelnuts. Let's listen to the most important of these developments from the words of Ahmet Hamdi Gürdoğan, Vice President of the East Black Sea Exporters Association (DKİB):
"We are not against international firms' investments. However, these firms are creating monopolies in the market, victimizing producers and enriching intermediaries. Producers who pledge their hazelnuts to intermediaries at low prices before even harvesting, due to wedding expenses or school costs, are harming themselves. For the first time, an investigation has been opened at the Competition Authority for this firm for creating a monopoly and violating the Law on the Protection of Competition. Because purchases are made through certain intermediaries contrary to fair trade, the money for hazelnuts ends up in the intermediary's pocket, not the producer's." (Source:2)
So, our producers and exporters have some complaints. I'm sharing these from the DKİB's website and conference texts from recent months. Additionally, discussions have been held about inefficient production, with suggestions for improvement.
For example, Sebahattin Arslantürk, Vice President of the DKİB Hazelnut and Products Sector Committee, has spoken as follows: "We are the country that produces hazelnuts at the highest price and quantity in the world. Sustainable exports are not possible in this way. We have no chance of competition. Countries outside of us like the USA, Chile, Georgia, and Azerbaijan have seen nearly 100% yield increases in recent years. Although they started production after us, they use machinery and have very high productivity. There's no chance of saving hazelnuts with state-based support. The Netherlands example is before us. It's a country the size of Konya, but has 90 billion dollars in agricultural product exports. Turkey has 21 billion dollars. As an agricultural country, we even import 20 million dollars worth of agricultural products, which is an interesting dimension of the situation." (Source:2)
From the conversation texts I've shared, it seems the root of all these problems is that our country's hazelnuts are no longer an export product that generates income for producers. We can sell hazelnuts that cost 2 dollars to international markets for 3 dollars, but we don't know the final profits of those who buy this product. It appears that the foreign firms mentioned by DKİB Vice President Ahmet Hamdi Gürdoğan are more interested in determining the global price of this product rather than investing in Turkish hazelnuts. As a result, an unhappy producer, fields succumbing to inefficiency, and a Karadeniz people with broken hopes have emerged.
What Can Cropto Do with CROF?
As Cropto, our primary aim in creating the hazelnut token is to open the way for our people and people of the world to easily and quickly invest in this national product with their own resources, in any amount they desire. Anyone can purchase CROF Tokens, which will be listed on crypto exchanges (including our country's quality exchange Bitlo Crypto Asset Exchange: https://www.bitlo.com), even in amounts as small as 100 liras. The Cropto Hazelnut Token (CROF) price is related to the market price of hazelnuts and is shaped according to supply and demand. The Cropto Hazelnut Token (CROF) is a token based on real-world assets, backed by physical hazelnut products we store in agreed, secure warehouses.
If the current market believes the hazelnut price is low, individual market participants previously lacked a tool to individually intervene in this situation. With CROF, they now have such a tool. Although Cropto is not yet at a level to determine the global price of hazelnuts, we aim to contribute to our national product hazelnut reaching the place it deserves in the coming years as our CROF supply increases, and we are lighting a ray of hope for our country's people. We are demonstrating the roles Cropto might play in the future to our people, like a "demo". We are providing an environment through the Cropto Hazelnut Token (Short Name: CROF) where any person in our country, region, and worldwide can easily and quickly purchase and accumulate hazelnut products 24/7.
The global trend is towards changing the system of managing money centrally. We see that the opportunities currently provided to a small number of people and organizations by capital - large amounts of money and their centralized purchasing power - will soon come to the masses. Through Cropto and similar initiatives, these masses will understand that when their individual savings (even as little as 100-200 TL) are collected together, they create a significant force when added up. God willing, we will gradually bring forth such and similar means for our hazelnuts and other agricultural products - this is Cropto's mission.
Cemil Şinasi Türün
Advisory Board Chairman
Cropto
Trademark of AgriFintech Financial Technologies Inc.
Sources:
1)https://arastirma.tarimorman.gov.tr/findik/Sayfalar/Detay.aspx?SayfaId=26
2)https://dkib.org.tr/tr/basin-basin-bultenleri-findigin-kaderini-degistirebiliriz.html