Drought-resilient seeds alleviate sunflower crisis

TEKİRDAĞ

Amid grave scale of yield loss in sunflower farming due to the excessive drought, the trials of domestically produced seeds in the northwestern region of Thrace have yielded remarkably positive results thanks to their impressive resilience to drought.

The drought in Thrace led to a 42 percent reduction in sunflower yields this year, with some producers in the most affected province, Tekirdağ, unable to harvest their sunflower fields due to the loss in productivity.

In a bid to address the sunflower crisis, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry provided support for the use of certified and domestic seeds in the watersheds where it was determined that underground water levels were insufficient and water resources were restricted.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı, during his visit to Tekirdağ, highlighted the results of initial trials using these seeds, developed by expert teams in the ministry's laboratories.

He emphasized that these seeds exhibited exceptional resilience to limited rainfall and high temperatures, significantly reducing yield losses.
"Our producers in Thrace have experienced a yield loss of approximately 42 percent due to the drought, which they have keenly felt, especially in relation to sunflower cultivation," he stated.

"Particularly, the resilience of our national seeds to drought and their minimal yield loss are truly incomparable."

"Therefore, our ministry, in collaboration with the Agricultural Research and Development Center, offered a 75 percent seed support in the project aimed at bringing unused or underutilized lands into agriculture. In areas where this seed support was provided, we have observed that the drought had almost no effect on the yields."

Agricultural Engineer İbrahim Toruk mentioned that the locally developed hybrid sunflower seeds through regional breeding methods are the least affected by drought.

In areas where the drought was most severe and the average sunflower yield was 170 kilograms, the yields of trial plantings of local seeds ranged from 180 to 215 kilograms, he added.