In Sanliurfa close to 15,000 decares are covered with pomegranate production; the high yield is pleasing farmers but the low prices means that they cannot be completely happy. Pomegranate producer Akyaz stated, “We are happy with the yield, but the prices being offered by traders do not satisfy us.”
Over the last few years, an irrigation project was implemented in Sanliurfa, which meant expanding the area of land planted with pomegranate trees, and this year 30,000 tons of yield is expected.
Over the last few years, the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Provincial Directorate distributed "Hijaz pomegranate" seedlings to encourage pomegranate cultivation, and improved irrigation facilities under the scope of GAP, which has expanded the field of pomegranate cultivation.
Chamber of Agricultural Engineers Sanliurfa Branch President Ali Riza Ozturkmen, said in a statement to an AA correspondent, that 15,000 acres of pomegranate production is made in the city, and thanks to a lack of frost and rain this year there has been a rise in the pomegranate harvest.
Per decare on average 2 tons of pomegranates are expected, Ozturkmen states, “The majority of farmers do not find the prices they want on the markets. At the wholesale market halls a kilo of Hijaz pomegranates is priced between €0.15-0.18. This is not enough.”
According to Ozturkmen, prices are low because fruits go directly to the markets, which is connected to a lack of storages warehouses. The city needs refrigeration storage warehouses for holding produce and for exports, he said this on the subject: “We advise our producers to come together to create their own industry. In this way low price products will not go to waste and a high amount of gains will be made in the next stage of development. Unfortunately there is a lack of storage warehouses and sorting facilities, there still isn’t even a juicing factory in the city, because of this, pomegranate prices have fallen. Our manufacturers can increase the profitability of their products by working together cooperatively.“
Source: haberler.com
