High costs and climate change are driving many fruit and vegetable growers in Turkey to switch to wheat and corn, which are increasingly viewed as a safer option
Increasing costs and damages associated with climate change are pushing farmers in Turkey to produce crop varieties that demand both less labour and less money, according to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News.
Volumes of some products have declined significantly, according to the report, with farmers switching to alternative crops as a result of extreme heat and flooding.
Seasonal vegetable prices are usually high during the winter months in Turkey, but prices of cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, leeks and spinach have reached their highest recorded level this year.
Growers in the Çukurova region have reportedly been able to make no money from either watermelons or tomatoes, while citrus volumes have been affected by the climate, according to Mehmet Akın Doğan, president of the chamber of agriculture in the southern province of Adana’s Yüreğir district.
“These types of fruits and vegetables require a lot of labour and money,” he told Hurriyet Daily. “Also, you can no longer predict what happens in the season. Due to the combination of these problems, farmers are shifting to ‘safe’ crops such as such as wheat, corn and cotton.”
Abdullah Şenol, president of the chamber of agriculture in İzmir’s Turgutlu district, warned the situation was no better in the Aegean, with farmers growing fewer and fewer varieties.
“Farmers could not sell their products in the previous season, while their debts increased,” he said. “Due to the high costs of growing vegetables, some of the farmers are planting less costly wheat, while others will plant corn.”
