Vegetable Production Potential of Turkey

The ecological diversity in Turkey has a great role on formation agricultural systems. Turkey has been the fourth largest vegetable producer after China, India, and the United States, with 29.522.290 million tons of production over an 809.000 ha agricultural area. Even though production has been based on traditional methods, it ranks in the first in the World in terms of vegetable production capacity per km2 and per capita with being among the top five in the production of most types of vegetables. Vegetable production activity has been spread over many parts of the country, but production for trading purposes has been especially focused on the Mediterranean Region (MTR), Aegean Region (AR), Marmara Region (MR), and the Black Sea Region (BSR). There has been a marked increase in vegetable production in the Inner Anatolia Region (IAR). Vegetable production is limited by the local climate and an insufficient supply of water in Southeastern Anatolia Region (SAR), and by highlands and rough local climate in the Eastern Anatolia Region (EAR). The purpose of the current study was to provide information on the vegetable production potential of Turkey in order to present to the international community. Vegetable production and its farming areas in seven geographical regions of Turkey were presented in the tables and discussed.