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Press release…
IZMIR – The Black Orak (Sickle) variety of dried figs, introduced to producers as part of the goal of increasing foreign exchange revenue with new varieties in the dried fig industry, where Türkiye is a global leader, is experiencing a bumper season.
The Sarılop variety, which accounts for almost all dried fig exports, is produced only in Aegean province of Aydın and some districts of Izmir. A traditional export crop, Sarılop generates 300 million dollars in foreign currency for Türkiye each year, corresponding to an average of 70,000 tonnes of exports. Despite surging demand, production of this variety cannot be scaled up rapidly due to the specific climate and soil conditions it requires.
The Black Orak project, which aims to expand dried fig cultivation to different regions and ramp up production with new varieties, is achieving success from the laboratory to the orchard.
Dried fruit exporter K.F.C. Food (Gıda) is conducting a joint project with the Erbeyli Fig Research Institute, affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies (TAGEM), Ege University and the Izmir Institute of Technology. Within this context, 284 fig varieties with Anatolian genetic resources were studied.
Among these varieties not industrially cultivated, those that contain health-promoting compounds, are resistant to disease and pests and can be consumed dried were subjected to laboratory analysis.
The study also determined that the variety known as “Black Orak” contains higher polyphenol and antioxidant activity than other varieties. Numerous scientific data, particularly regarding the antidiabetic, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive and antimicrobial effects of the “anthocyanin” pigment, which gives the product its colour, are available.
Data also emerged showing that the Black Orak fig, which was being trial-grown in a garden established by K.F.C. Food in the Bergama district of Izmir, is more resistant to mold-related aflatoxin-like growths than other varieties.
K.F.C. Food, which produces saplings through tissue culture to spread this variety, whose superior characteristics have been demonstrated in laboratory studies, in the Anatolian geography, continues to train producers in its trial garden as part of its contracted cultivation model…
