Olive harvesting began in the country, oil mills opened. There are also producers who say that “trees are empty this year”, and producers who say, “The branches of olives are breaking from the load”.
Experts say this year is neither good nor bad, but it’s too early to speculate on yields. In Central Mesarya, which has suffered from drought, olives are scarce this year. The situation is better in Guzelyurt-Lefke and Iskele-Karpaz regions.
Guzelyurtlu-Lefkeli producers, who say that “olives are a problem if they are not another problem”, complain that their products remain in their hands and prices are cheap. On their agenda is the removal of their olives.
The producers of Iskele-Karpaz are hopeful of the cooperative established in Büyükkonuk. With this, acres of new olive sapling thorns are also noted.
Stating that better yields are obtained from watered, pruned and maintained trees, the producers asked for regulation on incentives, noting the high input and harvest costs. Producers who demanded that olives get the value they deserve said imported olives and olive oil also affected their market share.
Mill/factory owners are also troubled. Stating that the pandemic affects the olive and olive oil sector along with the consumption balances in the domestic market, the owners who stated that the market problem has grown therefore, said that the olive oil exports realized this year with the initiatives of the Ministry of Agriculture have relieved the sector somewhat.
Another problem raised about olive oil is the poor quality oils on the market. The contents of the oil sold with the content on the label are often not the same, the factory owners said, and demanded increased controls on fraudulent oils.
There are also some important steps taken in olives and olive oil. It was announced that work was started to carry out pesticide analyses of olive oil in the State Laboratory and to take olives within the scope of the General Agricultural Insurance Fund. This year, 85 tons of olive oil were exported through the initiatives of the Ministry of Agriculture.
EVALUATION OF TAK FROM EXPERTS AND PRODUCERS Agricultural engineers, olive producers, olive and olive oil business owners evaluated this year’s production season to Turkish Agency Cyprus (TAK). Silk Kizilduman, director of the General Agricultural Insurance Fund, also shared the data of the Ministry of Agriculture in this area.
