MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Çewlig – Growing tobacco is one of the significant livelihoods of Bingöl province. The maintenance of tobacco plants, which are cultivated in spring, is very hard. The tobacco plant is the second most cultivated plant by villagers, after vegetables. Reyhan Kırık has grown tobacco in the region for 30 years.

Tobacco is her only livelihood

Reyhan Kırık works for three seasons by planting tobacco in her fields with her husband. Tobacco is her only livelihood. 30 years ago, she moved to Bingöl from Diyarbakır’s Kocaköy district due to the water shortage in the district. In spring, they begin to plant tobacco and vegetables in their field.

They have to work hard

Reyhan Kırık drew attention to how difficult their job is, “Planting vegetables and tobacco becomes our job. We only know how to do this job. We plant tobacco in spring. We loosen soil with a mattock twice. After cutting and collecting the leaves, we place them in a tent. Then, we hang them up on a string to dry them under the sun. We keep them under the sun until their color turns yellow. When their color turns yellow, we take them to Diyarbakır to sell them.”