Alternative Almond Harvest Begins in Edirne's Lalapaşa
· edirneninsesi.com.tr
Almond harvests have commenced in the almond orchards established in Edirne's Lalapaşa district approximately 10 years ago with grant support, aiming to protect producer income through an alternative product strategy.
Harvest season has begun in the almond orchards in Edirne's Lalapaşa district, where producers have worked diligently throughout the season. While some local farmers are opting for traditional methods to collect the ripened crop from the trees, others are utilizing specialized harvesting machinery. The laboriously collected nuts are separated from their shells one by one and then dried. Once the drying and shelling processes are fully completed, the almonds are bagged and made ready for direct sale to the nut and confectionery industries.
Almond cultivation, which was once widespread in the region during the Ottoman era but gradually disappeared, has been revived through income-generating afforestation projects initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. According to Taner Öztürk, the head of the Lalapaşa Chamber of Agriculture, 80% of this project, launched approximately 10 years ago, was covered by grants, with the remaining 20% contributed by the farmers. Within the framework of this project, 15 families came together to jointly undertake the cultivation of the lands, dividing the areas based on the number of trees.
Stating that the process will proceed much more systematically with the Ministry's transition to a new production system, Taner Öztürk, the head of the Lalapaşa Chamber of Agriculture, emphasized the importance of not relying on a single product and made the following assessment:
| Value | Measure |
|---|---|
| 80% | Project grant rate |
| 20% | Farmer contribution share |
| 15 families | Number of families participating in the project |