Cut flower production and marketing in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey is among the popular cut flower producing countries because of its suitable ecological advantages. Cut flower production in Turkey started during 1940’s in Istanbul and its surroundings and then spread to other provinces. The study examine current status, marketing structure and policies pursued in the Turkish cut flower industry; which can be classified according to the technology used, as well as the structure and the ecological characteristics of production areas. Enterprises in this sector are further classified into two groups as enterprises with export oriented production (modern enterprises) and with domestic market oriented production (small-family enterprises). Turkish cut flower industry is heavily focused on the production of carnation. Almost 80% of the total cut flower production is meant for export and consists of spray carnations. Collectively spray and standard carnations constitute 88% of the total production. The cut flower segment has shown great improvements in Turkey during recent years despite the existence of some problems in the stages of production, marketing and transportation. Key words: Cut flower, production, green house, marketing, Turkey.