THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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The Turkish Seed Growers’ Association (TÜRKTOB) reported that as of the end of last year, seed production surged by 3 thousand 18 tonnes to 1 million 303 thousand 38 tonnes and fruit sapling production decreased by 10.7 million to 101 million 574 thousand.
According to the information obtained from the ‘2025 Seed Sector Report’ prepared by TÜRKTOB, as of January 2025, the total number of members of the sub-unions affiliated to the union reached 82 thousand 937.
The number of registered and production authorised varieties increased to 9 thousand 637, including 3 thousand 839 varieties in field crops, 4 thousand 121 varieties in vegetables, 1 thousand 677 varieties in fruits and vines.
In Türkiye, where there are 669 varieties in field crops, 761 varieties in vegetables, 16 varieties in fruits and grapevines and one thousand 446 varieties with production permits, the amount of seed production has also surged.
As of the end of last year, seed production soared by 3 thousand 18 tonnes to 1 million 303 thousand 38 tonnes in 2023. Fruit sapling production, on the other hand, decreased by approximately 10.7 million to 101 million 574 thousand.
Vine seedling production soared by 1.6 million to 5.4 million, strawberry seedling production soared by 3.6 million to 78.6 million and ornamental plant production soared by 220 million to 2.32 billion. Vegetable seedling production, which did not change much compared to 2023, totalled approximately 6 billion units.
These positive developments in production quantities were also reflected in trade and a foreign trade volume of 853 million dollars was generated in 2024.
The balance between imports and exports continued to develop rapidly in favour of exports. In 2018, while the sector exported more than imports for the first time, the ratio was 108 percent. In 2024, the ratio of exports to imports was 134 per cent.
Since the horticulture sector has a significant economic potential for the country and the production of certified seedlings is not sufficient, it is stated that it would be beneficial to support all certified seedling production, material production and producers, including the production of standard seedlings, in order for the domestic sector to continue its activities and to reach the capital to make the necessary investment for the production of certified seedlings.
In the report, it is also noted that the seedling sector has not yet met 25 percent of its potential:
“There is a need to support rapidly developing seedling production activities and especially grafted seedling producers with very high investment. Supporting ornamental plants producers is important both in terms of recording production and increasing the export amount of the sector. In order to create a good distribution system, seed distributors should benefit from SME supports and those who form clusters should be provided with loans or grants under favourable conditions for the construction of seed warehouses. Certified seed cultivation is a job that requires serious knowledge. For this reason, seed growers should be trained on the basis of plant group for a certain period of time and only seed growers with a certificate should be supported. Since seed growing will become attractive thanks to the subsidies, the variability in the number of growers will decrease, thus it will be easier to provide services for this mass, thus seed production will increase. In addition to these financial and support needs, the sector has some other problems to be solved.”
