Country report Turkey

PROTECTED CULTIVATION IN TURKEY
Y. Tüzel
Ege Univ. Faculty of Agriculture
Dept. of Horticulture
35100 Bornova, Izmir/TURKEY
tuzel@ziraat.ege.edu.tr

Abstract
Protected cultivation has an important role in horticultural activities. There was a 6-fold increase in protected cultivation area and a 3.5 to 10-fold increase in greenhouse and tunnel area during the last twenty-five years. According to the recent statistics, the total area of protected cultivation has reached 53 603 ha in 2002. Area under greenhouse is 57 % of the total while the rest is occupied by low plastic tunnels.
This paper is aimed to summarize the recent situation of protected cultivation in Turkey.

Introduction
The actual surface area of Turkey including lakes and rivers is 81.5 million ha (78 million land). The country is characterized by a great diversity of agroecological zones. Geographically Turkey is situated in temperate region, but the diverse nature of the landscape, and the existence in particular of the mountains that run parallel to the coasts, results in significant differences in climatic conditions from one region to the other. While the coastal areas have milder climates, the inland Anatolian plateau has hot summers and cold winters with limited rainfall.
In Turkey, forests occupy 20,703,000 ha of land and about 26.4 million ha of land is suitable for crop production. Cultivated area (26,379,000 ha) is devoted to field crops (18,207,000 ha), fallow (4,826,000 ha), orchards (1,418,000 ha), vegetable growing (793,000 ha), olive groves (600,000 ha) and vineyards (535,000 ha) (Fig. 1) (http://www.die.gov.tr/istTablolar.htm#tar).

Fig. 1. Proportions of cultivated and forest area.

In the last three decades, the contribution of agriculture to the GNP (Gross National Product) decreased from 35 % in 1970 to 13.5 % in 2000. Despite this decrease, agriculture still plays an important role in the national economy. About 14 % of the national income comes from agriculture of which almost two third is from crops. Crop production represents 55 % of the agricultural sector followed by livestock (34 %) whereas forestry and aquaculture occupies the rest (11 %). About 35 % of population lives in rural areas and 45 % of economically active population is employed in agriculture. In 2000, export of agricultural products (crop and livestock) was 2.6 billion USD (Bozkurt and Engiz, 2001).

Protected Cultivation
Protected cultivation includes the production in the greenhouses and under low plastic tunnels. Total protected cultivation has reached to 53 603 ha in 2002. Area under low plastic tunnel is 43 % (23049 ha) of the total while the rest (30 554 ha) is occupied by greenhouses (DIE, 2003) (Fig. 2).


Fig. 2. Distribution of low plastic tunnels, high tunnels, and glass and PE greenhouses (%).

There was a 6-fold increase in protected cultivation area and a 3.5 to 10-fold increase in greenhouse and tunnel area during the last twenty-five years. The protected cultivation area increased 53.7 % between 1993 and 2002 (Fig. 3).


Fig. 3. Development in protected cultivation between 1993-2002.

In 2001-2002, 75 % of the greenhouses and 70.3 % of protected cultivated area are located in the Mediterranean Region (Fig. 4 & 5). Those figures show that greenhouses and low plastic tunnels are mainly located on the south and west coasts of the country where the climatic conditions are favourable for protected cultivation without any additional heating.


Fig. 4. Distribution of greenhouses according to locations.


Fig. 5. Distribution of protected cultivation area according to locations.

The increase in greenhouse area is due to the high demand in domestic market, attractive crop prices, dominancy of family enterprises (of an average size of 1.000 - 3.000 m2), sharecropper system and 25 % subsidy between the years of 1990-1995 (Titiz, 2004).

Cultivated Crops
Vegetable growing with 96 % of the total greenhouse area stands first, ornamental plants (3 %) especially cut flowers occupy the second place and these are followed by fruits.
Vegetables: Among the vegetables, tomato with 47 % of total vegetable production under cover is the most prominent while cucumber, watermelon (in particularly under low plastic tunnels), pepper, eggplant, squash, melons and other vegetables are grown over rest of the area (Table 1). Lettuce growing has an increasing tendency, as well.
Floriculture: In recent years, cut flower production has gradually increased. Table 2 shows the production of cut flowers, ornamentals and bulbs in different regions. Cut flower contribution within the production and value is the highest.
Fruits: Banana plantations are under protection at a very limited area on the Mediterranean coast (66.597 tons). Strawberry takes the second place under cover (56.946 tons).

Table 1. The vegetable production figures under cover (DIE, 2003).

2000	2001	2002	2003
1.375.103	1.417.667	1.632.175	1.940.324
1.043.706	977.623	903.360	984.357
335.504	270.699	312.144	315.108
183.523	214.642	254.153	262.614
80.720	130.085	103.115	112.445
485.381	510.691	823.293	669.751
91.753	86.485	66.514	59.392
40.435	24.370	20.932	22.042
37.451	27.821	41.191	41049
3.478	3.232	3.542	4.074

Table 2. The cultivation area of cut flowers, ornamentals and bulbs (ha) (Özzambak, 2003).

Marmara	Aegean	Mediter-ranean	Others	Total	%	Product. amount (x106 number)	Value (x106$)	%
350.2	336.5	319.7	17.4	1002.38	61.4	406	41	56
315	144.7	32.9	71.64	564.25	33.8	25-30	15	20
20.4	16.1	14.9	2.65	54.12	3.2	12-15	15	20
8.3	6.23	6.71	5.81	26.74	1.6	24-25	2.5	4
693.9	503.53	374.21	97.5	166.90	100	467	73.5	100

Present status of protected cultivation
Covering materials: A total of 79 % of the greenhouses are covered with plastic films (PE) and the remaining with glass (Fig. 6).


Fig. 6. Distribution of covering materials used in greenhouses.

Plastic film for covering is generally polyethylene. It lasts for one year, whereas, there are UV, UV+IR, UV+IR+AF (antifog) and UV+IR+AF+AV (antivirus) resistant PE at the market which are lasting for more.

Ventilation:
Insufficient ventilation is still one of the most important problems particularly in the small-size plastic houses. Recent years, roof ventilation ratio has increased.

Heating:
There is no regular heating in the greenhouses. Roof sprinkler irrigation and simple firewood stoves and in recent years pulsed air boiler (with LPG, wood, fuel, etc) are used only to protect the plants against frost under conditions when temperature falls below 3-5^oC.
In terms of renewable energies, geothermal is the most promising one but it is still not used effectively.

Technology of production
Seed supply: Seed production is carried out both by public and private sectors. The public sector produces seed of wheat, barley, rice and cotton whereas the private sector produces almost seed of all hybrids (maize, sunflower, vegetable), soybean, potato, vegetable and some forage crops. Some private companies import parental lines or basic seed and produce certified seed locally.
Most of the cultivars are F1 hybrids in protected cultivation. A large proportion of hybrid seeds are imported. Table 3 shows the quantity and value of seeds exported and imported (data from the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs).

Table 3. Quantity (tonnes) and value (USD) of seed import and export in Turkey (TKB, TÜGEM 2004).

Crop	Import				Export
	Quantity (t)		Value ($)		Quantity (t)		Value ($)
	2002	2003	2002	2003	2002	2003	2002	2003
Cereal crops	913	4 090	2 488	6 872	4 714	12 855	10 856	13 257
Industrial Crops	14 496	7 868	9 261	8 797	3 270	3 107	6 057	7 826
Forage Crops	403	581	426	817	1	---	------	-----
Turf grass	2 131	2 809	3 047	4 045	27	31	90	108
Vegetables(hybrid)	411	222	36 255	44 193	10	3	113	80
Vegetables (stand.)	737	542	3 815	6 525	90	99	204	180
Veg. Total	1 148	764	40 070	50 718	100	102	317	260
TOTAL.	19 091	16 212	55 292	71 249	8 112	16 095	17 320	21 451

Seedling production: Generally farmers grow their own seedlings. Since high temperature and insect infection cause problems in autumn and low temperature and light effect spring season seedling production, farmers started to work with the seedling companies. Private seedling companies increased during the last few years. Already, there are 30 private companies producing seedlings. Their annual production area is over 40 ha. The annual production number is 800 million (Table 4).

Table 4. The change of seedling production between the years of 1999-2003 (Abak, 2003).

Year	Number of company	Area (Ha)	Annual capacity (as number) x106)
1999	12	20	500
2003	30	40	800

Soil preparation: Production is still generally made in soil, but there is an increasing interest in the use of soilless culture techniques to overcome the problems originated from soil, and till now the soilless cultivation area has reached 75 ha at farmers' level. But it is evident that it will be increase, if the upcoming phase out of methyl bromide under the Montreal Protocol is taken into account. Table 5 shows the private companies using soilless culture technique for vegetable production.
Irrigation: Generally drip irrigation is used in the greenhouses. By the use of drip irrigation, water loss is decreased to the minimum.
Fruit-setting methods: The use of bumble bees is gradually increased. There are two companies (Biobest and Coppert)) selling hives to the growers.

Table 5. Companies using using soilless culture technique in Turkey.

Company	Area (ha)	Crops	Place
Agrobay	12	Tomato, pepper	İzmir
Özaltın	10	Tomato, pepper	Antalya
Agroser	6	Tomato, pepper	Antalya
Balabanlar	6	Tomato, pepper	Antalya
Türkeli	6	Tomato, pepper	İzmir
Antalya Tarım	4.2	Vegetable, cut flower	Antalya
Akbulut	4	Cut flower	Mersin
Halis Seracılık	3.2	Tomato	Adana
Ayer	3	Cut flower	Antalya
Yavuzlar	3	Tomato	Antalya
Meristem	2.6	Cut flower	Aydın
Sapeksa	2.5	Tomato	Adana
Ekinciler	2.5	Tomato	Mersin
Hasan Serin	2	Tomato, pepper	Mersin
Naturel	2	Cut flower	Mersin
Eylül tarım	1.4	Tomato	Mersin
Göncüoğlu Tarım	1.5	Tomato	Manisa
Yenteks	1	Tomato	Adana
Tuğtekin Çiçekçilik Ltd.	0.8	Cut flower	Yalova
Mustafa Çınar	0.6	Cucumber, tomato, lettuce	İzmir
Ali Çevik	0.5	Tomato	Adana
Hasan Hüseyin Erbudak	0.2	Cucumber	İzmir
Şener Piyar	0.1	Cucumber, lettuce	İzmir
Mehmet Aslan	0.1	Tomato, hıyar	İzmir
TOPLAM	75.2

Plant Protection: The pesticide consumption increased 48.4 % between the years of 1979 and 2000 (Table 6). Although the annual increase is 2.3 %, 2/3 of the pesticide consumption is realized at the Mediterranean and Aegean Regions where the protected cultivation is intensive (Delen, 2002).

Table 6. Pesticide consumption (kg or liters).

Years
Pesticides	1979	1978	1994	1996	2000	2002
Insecticides	2287658	3303446	2064991	3027380	2694080	2250898
Acaricides	203107	240360	192279	223857	266641	296809
Oils	1594526	2147106	1970281	2871160	2606924	2428238
Fumigants and Nematocides	315665	322227	530738	1076661	994445	1559489
Rodenticides and Mollucides	5600	2124	2509	3268	6390	1794
Fungucides	1537315	2611960	2201406	2951191	2692957	1964292
Herbicides	2451977	3495044	3902588	3643971	3197078	3697396
TOPLAM	8 395 848	12 122 267	10 864792	13 797 488	12 458 515	12 198 916

Fresh Vegetable Exportation
The amount of fresh vegetable exportation is 554.000 tons (Table 7). The main importer countries are Russian Federation (23 %), Germany (19 %), Saudi Arabia (13 %) , Greece and Romania (7 %) (Table 8) (http://www.igeme.org.tr).

Table 7. Fresh vegetable exportation (Amount: 1000 Ton - Value: 1000 US$).

Crops	2000		2001		2002
	Amount	Value	Amount	Value	Amount	Value
Watermelon	11	1.332	11	1.614	11	1.821
Melon	6	1.503	10	2.129	11	2.368
Tomato	120	37.482	191	48.914	253	69.953
Potatoes	128	23.078	105	12.831	32	2.295
Dry onion	82	11.132	160	16.231	141	13.790
Pickling cucumber	8	3.503	20	7,074	24	8.340
Carrot	17	2.970	30	3,902	29	3.088
Pepper	32	20.313	40	19.651	51	25.000
Fresh vegetables	420	112.000	577	122.000	554	139.000
TOTAL	1.064	369.000	1.420	459.000	1.544	515.000

Table 8. Fresh vegetable importing countries (Amount: Ton - Value: US $)

Countries	2000		2002
	Amount	Value	Amount	Value
Russia Fed.	43.459	12.427.682	124.246	32.347.814
Germany	34.292	21.749.890	38.801	25.722.560
Saudi Arabia	115.200	16.230.607	155.712	18.378.945
Greece	6.249	2.362.196	33.381	9.721.017
Romania	17.973	5.756.735	43.832	9.313.200
Holland	4.797	3.293.175	8.758	6.312.622
Yugoslavia Fed.	6.014	1.834.068	26.327	5.681.353
Austria	9.812	5.534.309	7.474	5.063.003
France	4.312	3.279.270	6.371	4.605.731
Switzerland	2.874	1.638.631	3.454	2.386.493
Macedonia	4.365	1.468.689	5.820	1.946.881
Bosna-Herzagovina	1.835	728.280	5.141	1.319.852
United Kingdom	1.089	796.760	1.444	1.110.544
Slovenia	1.171	499.338	2.840	1.016.659
Bulgaria	1.492	283.580	76.630	991.842
TOTAL	420.000	112.000.000	554.000	139.000.000

Conclusion
Turkey possesses some advantages in terms of climatic conditions, geothermal sources, cheap labor and thus increasing the chance of exportation. Introduction of sustainable technologies in greenhouses will help to support these advantages. The present status of protected cultivation in Turkey seems to be in a quite acceptable level; however, there is still need to update.

References
Abak, 2003. Sera ve serada üretim teknolojilerindeki gelişmeler. Workshop on "Protected Cultivation". 24 October, Izmir.
Bozkurt, B., M. Engiz, 2001. Focus on Seed Programs The Seed Industry in Turkey. Delen, N., 2002. Türkiye'de tarim ilaci kullanimi ve sorunlari. TAYEK/TYUAP Tarimsal Araştirma Yayin ve Egitim Koordinasyonu, Tarla Bitkileri Grubu 2002 Yili Bilgi Alişveriş Toplantisi Bildirileri. Eds. A.Ş.Tan, A. Aydin, N. Ercan, M.A. Gül, A. Oguz. Ege Tarimsal Araştirma Müdürlügü Yayin No 109:233-247.
http://www.die.gov.tr/istTablolar.htm#tar
http://www.igeme.org.tr/
http://www.icarda.cgiar.org/seed_unit/Pdf/Focus/FOCUS-Turkey.pdf
Özzambak, E., 2003. Süs bitkileri içinde kesme çiçegin yeri ve önemi. 2. Cut Flower Symposium, 23 October. Izmir.
Titiz, S., 2004. Modern Seracilik: Yatirimciya Yol Haritasi (Modern Greenhouse Technology: Roadmap for the investors). Ansiad, Antalya, 124 s.