In the southern Turkish city of Hatay's Kırıkhan district, producers have started to harvest the Mogador variety of apricots.
Producer Kenan Atasoy's garden in Sogutluoz neighborhood yielded 30 tons of apricots. Atasoy handed the apricots over to the exporting company.
Stating that they planted the apricots trees three years ago, Atasoy said: "Once we discovered that our region's climate is similar to Spain's, we imported Mogador and Mikado saplings from Spain. Then we planted them in our garden in Sogutluoz. In the first stage, we planted 2 thousand saplings. We have the earliest apricot harvest in Turkey."
Atasoy emphasized that they export these apricots and continued:
"3 years of maintenance, irrigation and insecticide work has started to pay off. In our orchard we currently have 50 thousand trees and we export all our produce. We are hoping our exports will increase and that the ministry of Agriculture will support producers and give us incentives."
"This year we harvested the Mogadors for the first time. Last year the yield was 100 tons of apricots. This year we expect to produce around 300 tons. We've collected 30 tons so far and handed them over the the exporter company. This variety appeals to European and Russian taste, it brings in a high revenue and it is durable. This is why we do not produce this variety for the domestic market but for selling abroad." added Atasoy.
Source: Hurriyet