Press release…
Er: “We have 500 thousand farmers engaged in olive cultivation”
Pointing out that olive farming has been done in Anatolia, the homeland of the olive tree, for 6 thousand years, Davut Er, the chairman of the Aegean Olive and Olive Oil Exporters’ Association (EZZİB), said, “After 2002, Turkey’s olive tree population increased from 90 million to 180 million.
Stating that Turkish farmers take care of olive trees as their children, Er explained, “If our olive producers had the same support as their competitors, they have the potential to reach the world leadership with an annual production of 650 thousand tonnes of olive oil and 1 million 200 thousand tonnes of table olives.”
“During the pandemic period we are in, we offer endless gratitude to our farmers, who are the first link of the production chain, who have been working day and night in their fields, gardens, contributing to both their home and Turkish agriculture,” Er added.
“I congratulate all the farmers who love the olive, which is a source of healing today and the immortal tree that has been grown on these lands for thousands of years,” Er concluded.