Ulaş Karakoç and Barış Gençer Baykan
Organic agriculture which started with only 8 crops in 1985, has developed to the extent that more than 200 crops are being cultivated organically on 0.5 percent of all arable land area of Turkey by 15 000 farmers. Since 2004, the number of organic farmers and organic area increased by 25 percent, meanwhile the amount of organic production expanded nearly by 50 percent. In 2004, there was organic agriculture in 49 provinces, it reached 65 provinces in 2008. Organic production has extended to a larger area, especially towards the eastern regions since 2004. The diversification of the crop pattern and the increasing share of the grain and cotton imply an expanding domestic market for the organic food. The average land area on which organic production is carried out has decreased from 16.6 to 11 da, which has been due to the small-scale farmers entering the market. In 2008, crops rank accordin to the size of organic production as follows: Cotton, wheat, apple, grape, maize, tomatoe and olive. Note that cotton ranks first in 2008, while apple did so in 2004.
doc. ResearchBrief035
pdf. ResearchBrief035