Rainfall in spring increased wheat yields. While 21.5 million tons of wheat was produced throughout the country, 9 million tons of barley was achieved.
Ozkan Taspinar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Grains Council (UHK), stated that the wheat harvest season has come to an end and the wheat and barley yields meet the expectations.
Stating that the droughts that occurred towards the end of last year and continued in the first months of this year are worrying, Taspinar said, “These droughts were recorded as the second dry winter of the last 63 years. With the regular rains in March and the following months, the wheat yield was above the long-term average and 21.5 million tons of wheat were obtained throughout the country.”
Taşpınar explained that there are diseases in the plant in regions that receive excessive rainfall in the spring, so although some decreases in quality occur, there is not much of a problem.
Barley production reached 9 million tons
Reminding that the average yield for many years was around 20 million tons in wheat and 8 million tons in barley, Taspinar said, “Wheat production in this year’s harvest season has significantly exceeded the average for many years. We have achieved a figure of 9 million tons in barley, which we have never achieved before.”
“There were around 30 million tons of wheat stock”
Emphasizing that the support given to the farmers played an important role in obtaining these figures, Taspinarsaid:
“The announcement of the wheat prices in a way that will meet the expectations both last year and this year pleased the farmers, traders and industrialists. Therefore, a certain increase was achieved in the cultivation areas last year. In addition to the 21.5 million tons of wheat obtained, there are also 8-9 million tons of imported wheat. Therefore, there was a wheat stock of around 30 million tons. While we use 20 million tons of this for domestic consumption, we process and export the rest as flour, biscuits, pasta, bulgur, halva or semolina.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz