Feyzullah Korkut, Chamber of Agricultural Engineers Head of Adana Branch, said that maize should be purchased from the producer at 1.50 TL for sustainability of the production due to the start of maize harvest.
Emphasizing that maize is one of the scarce plants that has been cultivated for thousands of years, Korkut said, “Its homeland is America and it spread all over the world from here and the findings obtained from all archaeological excavations show that the maize plant has a history of 8,000 to 10,000 years.”
Maize has various uses in the food industry and other sectors with starch-based sugars, especially in the feed industry.
Korkut stated that maize has come to the fore with the increase in production amount and geographical change in cultivation areas as well as biofuel production as an alternative area of use in recent years.
Korkut also expressed that Turkey maize planting area of 6.9 million hectares in 2015 dropped to 5.9 million hectares in 2018.
Korkut added: “On the other hand, our maize production, which was 6.4 million tons in 2015, was 6 million tons in 2019. The average yield, which was 930 kg / da in 2015, increased by 4 percent and rose to 963 kg / da in 2018.”
The largest producer region is Adana province with 1.1 million tonnes…
Noting that maize is the preferred product among farmers due to factors such as the increase in irrigation possibilities, high profitability compared to competing products, TMO (Turkish Grain Board) purchases, support policy and increase in feed demand, Korkut concluded,
“Mediterranean region still maintains its position as the most important region with its production amount over 2 million tons. In provinces with high production in the region, the yield is above the country average with 1,100 kg. The biggest producer is Adana with 1.1 million tons and our neighbour province Osmaniye with 386 thousand tons.”