A yield of over 60 thousand tonnes is expected for carrots, which have started to be harvested in the Amik Plain, one of Turkey’s most important agricultural production centres.
Agricultural workers, who come to the muddy fields due to the rains in the early hours of the morning, pick the carrots and stuff them into sacks.
The collected carrots are then loaded onto tractors and sent to the washing facilities for cleaning.
Here, mud-covered carrots are washed with water, packaged by women and sold at home and abroad.
Hatay Agriculture and Forestry Director Ergün Çolakoğlu said that the province ranks third after Konya and Ankara with carrot production.
Noting that carrots are cultivated intensively in Kırıkhan, Reyhanlı, Kumlu, Antakya and Belen districts, Çolakoğlu said, “This year, a yield of over 60 thousand tonnes is expected on an area of approximately 16-17 thousand decares. Our yield per decare ranges between 3-5 tonnes. In addition, exports are made to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia, especially to the Middle East countries.”
Çolakoğlu stated that the good rainfall this year also affected the yield of the carrot and noted that the producers were happy with both the price and the yield.
Çolakoğlu added that the kilogram price of the carrot, which is still harvested, reaches up to 2.2 liras and that the exported crop contributes more than 90 million liras to the provincial economy.