TROPICAL FRUITS ARE GROWN IN ALANYA

Alanya’s farmers have been trying to convert Antalya’s resort district into a tropical fruit heaven, having increased their production of 36 mostly “exotic” fruits foreign to Turkey in the last five years.From papayas to mangos, passifloras to pecan nuts and guavas to lychees and pineapples – produce from all over the world, including many fruits few in the country have even heard of, is now being grown in Alanya by the local farmers’ cooperative.

Alanya is also known for its production of bananas and especially avocados. Seventy percent of the avocados consumed in Turkey come from the area.

Producers are also optimistic that sales of homegrown tropical fruits, long strangers to Turkish markets, will quickly grow. “These fruits will have an economic value and we are sure that they will make our producers smile,” said the district’s agriculture department head, Mehmet Rüzgar.

He said Alanya’s microclimate permitted the cultivation of any tropical fruit conceivable, with farmers already looking to bring even newer tastes of the tropics to the southern destination’s fertile soil.

Posted by Seher Kulac

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