Shore thing - Turkey’s coastal greenhouses continue their production boom

The protected area in Turkey has burgeoned in the previous decade, growing by around 52 percent, with increases in production volumes for both vegetables and fruit. In the case of fruit, within the last decade some fruits, such as apricot, plums and blueberry, have been cultivated under protection and included in the figures for the first time. This increase in production has required inputs. The number of companies manufacturing or supplying biological inputs and water-soluble fertilizers numbers at least 310, according to New AG International data.

In this country report, we see that apples and lemons are becoming significant exports, with one of the upcoming crops being rocket. With so much production occurring in protected horticulture, contributor Professor Hasan Yilmaz of Isparta University of Applied Sciences provides an overview of biocontrol in the greenhouse sector.

The protected area in Turkey has burgeoned in the previous decade, growing by around 52 percent, with increases in production volumes for both vegetables and fruit. One of the drivers has been population growth.
At 85 million, Turkey’s population has been growing steadily for several decades. In 1970, the population was 35 million, giving an average annual growth rate of 1.5 percent since 1990. Population projection by Our World in Data has Turkey’s population reaching 97 million by 2056, with it falling back to around 86 million by the end of the century.

Protected Area
The protected area for horticulture has seen a 52 percent growth in the years 2010-2021 from 56,381 hectares (ha) to 85,460 ha, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT). The data is broken down into glass greenhouses, plastic greenhouses, high tunnels and low tunnels.
In 2021, glass greenhouses accounted for nine percent of the area, plastic greenhouses 54 percent, high tunnels 12 percent and low tunnels 25 percent. The sector with the largest growth in the period 2010-2021 were plastic greenhouses, doubling from 23,000 ha to 46,000 ha. High and low tunnels grew by 24 percent each in the period.
Data for vegetable and fruit production for land under protective cover was also available.
The volume of vegetables grown has increased 60 percent between 2010-2021, from 5.5 million tonnes (t) to 8.8 million t. The production of bell peppers under protective cover has more than doubled in this period, reaching 850,000 t in 2021. The tomato volume under protective cover has increased by 54 percent to 4.4 million t. Melon has seen a 94 percent increase, from 111,000 t to 216,000 t. Watermelon has grown by a more modest 18 percent, from 694,000 t to 818,000 t.

Fruit boost
The growth in fruit production has been even greater than for vegetables. Between 2010-2021, the volume of fruit grown under protection increased from 272,000 t to 978,000 t, an increase of 260 percent.
The biggest increases in volume were strawberries and banana. In this period, the volume for strawberries increased from 122,000 t to 253,000 t, an increase of 107 percent. For banana, the volume increased from 150,000 t to 723,000 t in the 11-year period.
There were some new additions – apricots were listed under protected crops in 2012 for the first time, with 479 t in 2021. Production of peaches under the category of protected area was introduced in 2013 and has very small volumes – only 10 t recorded for 2021; plums first listed 2016 and with 366 t in 2021, and blueberry with 33 t, listed for the first time in 2021.

Tea production
Turkey is the fifth largest producer of tea, according to FAO 2018, with dried tea of 270,000 t. TURKSTAT data shows production at around 1.4 million t of green leaf tea recorded for 2021. An industry source in the tea industry confirmed to New AG International that a conversion rate from the leaf to the dried production is a ratio of around 0.25.
Turkey’s tea production is located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the north of the country. The dominant tea growing region is Rize, while others include Trabzon, Artvin, Giresun and Ordu.
The green leaves will tend to be used to make black tea, which is fully oxidized, and the more widely drunk variety of tea. A smaller quantity of green leaves in Turkey do not undergo the oxidation process and used to make green tea.
According to one academic paper: “The biggest advantage of Turkish tea sector is that pesticides are not used for its cultivation. The winter conditions decrease pests by natural means as it snows in Rize province, situated in the northeast of Turkey.” (Yurteri et al.)
There is ongoing research into the utilization of plant growth-promoting bacteria in organic tea production, conducted by Çakmakçı et al., (2012, 2013, 2016), according to the above reference.

Nutrient consumption
Turkey has a number of fertilizer producers, and is a large importer of raw materials. The trace element that has the world’s largest reserves is boron, and there are many suppliers that incorporate this element into their fertilizer formulations.
Turkey is a large importer of urea – although much of the quantity is used for glue manufacture as part of Turkey’s large chipboard manufacturing industry.
In terms of nutrient consumption, data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for 2021 shows nitrogen consumption in nutrient tonnes as 8.5 million t of nitrogen, 3.7 million t of P2O5, and 300,000 t K2O. Usage of nitrogen has increased by 26 percent between 2009-2021, and a more modest increase of nine percent for P2O5 across the same period.

Biocontrol
In its December 2021 report, the USDA’s FAS said the Mediterranean fruit fly issue remained “the greatest concern among producers and exporters, as the pest is the reason for many of the rejections for Turkish lemons at European Union and Russian ports.” The report went on to say that Turkey had started to try to combat the Mediterranean fruit fly by biological methods and plot studies. For more on the use of biocontrol in greenhouses, see our contribution by Professor Yılmaz, Isparta University of Applied Sciences.
Recent trends and developments in biocontrol usage in Turkey’s greenhouse sector.

To read the full country report on Turkey by New AG International, go here.

Find out more about Italy’s protected crop production, in New AG International, here.