While countries known as the homeland of coffee have experienced production losses exceeding 30 percent due to climate change, Türkiye’s southern provinces have started to produce in this area. According to experts, this new development could revolutionise Türkiye’s agricultural sector and make the country one of the world’s leading coffee growers.
Dr. Christian Bunn from Humboldt University in Berlin, based on global climate change data, said that production in Vietnam, India and Central America, which are suitable for Arabica coffee production, will soon be halved. Not only in these regions, but also in Africa and Asia, extreme drought and insect infestations have already hit coffee production severely. In the last three years, world coffee prices have risen 15-fold in some regions for this reason. Türkiye’s largest local coffee brand, Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, has also started coffee production in the mediterranean province of Antalya. The brand, which has been supporting entrepreneurs in the region for 4 years, expects a serious harvest this year. Every day, 3 billion cups of coffee are drunk in the world. The size of the cultivation market alone is over 400 billion dollars. Türkiye imports 60 thousand tonnes every year.
Climate change is affecting the cultivation areas of agricultural products around the world. Increasing temperatures and changing rainfall patterns create favourable conditions for agriculture in some regions, while making production difficult in others. The coffee plant is directly affected by these changes, as it is a plant that is particularly sensitive to temperature changes. The southern regions of the country and the Taurus Mountains have become favourable for coffee cultivation as a result of climate changes in recent years. The microclimate conditions in these regions provide the necessary temperature and humidity levels for the coffee plant to grow.
PRODUCTION STARTED IN THE SOUTH…
According to experts, the southern regions of Türkiye and the Taurus Mountains have great potential for high quality coffee production thanks to their high altitude and favourable climatic conditions. Coffee cultivation, which is currently in the experimental phase, is yielding positive results. Especially in provinces such as Antalya, Mersin and Hatay, which have a Mediterranean climate, the coffee plant has started to be grown successfully.
40 YEARS AGO IT WAS UNSUCCESSFUL…
The Western Mediterranean Agricultural Research Centre (BATEM) continues to work on plants that can be produced. 40 years ago, BATEM engineers, who have been working for a long time on the coffee plant, which was tried to be produced in the open field but no results were obtained, succeeded in growing this plant with greenhouse production with climate change. When the plant is 5 years old, 1 kilo of coffee can be obtained from 5 kilos of fresh fruit..