The US Department of Agriculture has estimated that Turkey will harvest 16.5 million tonnes of wheat this year, one million tonnes up on the 2007 figure.
According to Mustafa Hepokur, a member of the Executive Board of the Union of Turkish Chambers of Agriculture (TZOB) and chairman of Central and Southern Anatolia Chambers of Agriculture, 2007 saw the worst drought of recent years.
“It badly affected our grain-cereals production. Consequently our wheat production dropped from 20 million tonnes to 15.5 million tonnes. The world has also suffered similar problems. The decrease in wheat production led to an increase in prices,” he said.
Though some areas of Turkey, especially in central and eastern Anatolia, were still drought affected or suffering from water shortages, there should be an increase in production, he said.
