PROTECTED CULTIVATION IN TURKEY

Turkey, situated between the 36th and 42nd north and the 19th and 27th east parallel, covers 78 million hectares of which about 36% (28 million hectares) is cultivated. 67% of the cultivated area is used for field crops, 13% for horticulture and 20% lie fallow.

The diversity of the climate, due to Turkey's geographic situation permits the cultivation of almost all temperate and subtropical horticultural crops. Vegetables cover 24% of the horticultural area, 2.2% of the whole cultivated area and 4.4% of the irrigated area, with about 800 000 ha surface.

Turkey has nearly 60 million inhabitants and produces a total of 17 million tons of vegetables. Vegetable consumption is 135 kg per capita per year (potatoes, melon and watermelon not included), but it fluctuates from region to region and from season to season. On the other hand, the export of vegetables is increasing. Above the effect of these factors, an increase of vegetable production (4.5% per year) is seen (Abak, 1993). For flower production, the increase of production is higher than vegetables (Titiz, 1992). According to new statistics, vegetables make up 13% of the total plant production and 1–2% of the total income from exports (Gunduz, 1992).