| A possibility of increasing Turkey's total wheat production
by introduction of wheats with high yielding potential J. SCHULZ-SCHAEFFER1) and N. DINCER2) In 1975, Turkey will probably have a population of 40 million people. In order to feed this population, Turkey requires at least 20 million tons of grain (FAO Mediterranean Development Project 1959). In 1965 Turkey produced 8.5 million tons of wheat and 3.3 million tons of barley, while the average grain production from 1954 to 1958 was 12.5 million tons. If Turkey does not become independent from grain imports by 1975 it probably will face serious difficulties. Since the world wheat supply is already at a low, import wheat may not be available for Turkey at that time. Possible measures for a quick and drastic improvement of this situation are the following: 1. A shift of the bulk of Turkey's wheat production from the Anatolian Plateau to the coastal areas. 2. Introduction of wheats with high yielding potential. 3. Application of high fertilizer rates. 1. A shift in main wheat production areas Turkey's main wheat supply to date has come from the Anatolian Plateau area which has limited and unstable production potential. More than 2/3 of the total wheat production comes from that area; 1965: 5,830, 337 tons from the Plateau and Eastern Turkey, 2,669,653 tons from the coastal areas (ANONYMOUS 1967). In addition to other factors such as soil erosion and extensive farm practices, rainfall is one of the main limiting factors on the Anatolian Plateau. In the Konya nad Eskisehir Provinces, for instance, the 9 year average from 1928 to 1936 was little over 300 mm (ERINC 1950). While this average rainfall is in itself insufficient, during some years there is an extremely low moisture supply (Konya Province: 143 mm in 1932). In a dendroclimatic investigation of GASSNER and CHRISTIANSEN-WENIGER (I942) it was found that in Central Anatolia during the last 600 years disastrous drought years or a series of such drought years occurred in almost every decade. This situation is undoubtedly the main reason for the fact that Turkey's wheat production is unstable at the present time and that she is forced to import wheat in critical years. However, the coastal areas have sufficient and more dependable rainfall. For instance, according to averages for periods of 10 or more years, Bergama, Izmir, Torbali and Aydin areas have from 600 to 800 mm, Adana from 800 to 1,000 mm, Antalya from 1,000 to 1,200 mm and Rize area 2,000 mm and more annual precipitation (HARITA UMUM MUDURLUGU l960). Since most of this precipitation is winter rainfall it can be utilized completely by fall-planted wheat. If wheat cultivation in the coastal areas could be expanded and intensified, Turkey could become independent from wheat imports. From 1958 to 1964 an average of about 500,000 tons of wheat had to be imported every year. The expansion of the wheat acreage in the coastal areas would be possible by using wheat in rotation with cotton and tobacco which are presently mainly grown in monoculture. This expansion would increase the potential wheat acreage in the coastal areas by more than 30%; 1965: 2,160,007 ha of wheat, 654,564 ha of cotton and 200,511 ha of tobacco in the coastal areas (ANONYMOUS 1967). |
| 1) Professor of Agronomy and Genetics, Montana State University,
U.S.A. ; presently FAO Agricultural Officer, UNDP/SF Project No. 142, Izmir,
Turkey. 2) Agricultural Engineer, Agricultural Research and Introduction Centre, Izmir, Turkey. |
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