Turkish fruit growers enter the season cautiously after last year’s frost losses
Turkey’s farm sector has entered the new season cautiously after last year’s frost damage hit 16 products across 65 provinces, with recovery now varying sharply by crop and region.
Turkey’s farm sector is entering the new growing season cautiously after last year’s frost disaster damaged 16 agricultural products across 65 of the country’s 81 provinces. Hürriyet Daily News reported that growers are still dealing with the aftermath while also facing unstable climate conditions, and early field signals suggest the recovery is uneven rather than broad-based.
Yunus Kılınç, a board member of the Union of Turkish Agricultural Chambers, said the effects of last year’s frost remain visible. He pointed to apricot orchards, where blossom levels were stronger this year and farmers had hoped for a rebound after trees were left fruitless in the previous season. Those hopes were weakened when heavy rains caused many blossoms to fall, leaving expectations for a low apricot crop and similar concerns for other fruit trees.
Malatya illustrates the scale of the challenge. The province normally produces around 100,000 tonnes of dried apricots, but this year output is expected to be closer to 50,000 tonnes. Kılınç linked the continued pressure to broader climate change, saying weather disruptions driven by global warming have been hitting producers in multiple ways and leaving some orchard owners uncertain about whether to keep their trees at all.
Conditions are not equally negative everywhere. In the Mediterranean region, the outlook is more favorable, though still cautious. Tahir Göktepe, head of the Alanya Chamber of Agriculture, said rainfall and temperatures there remain within seasonal norms for now. New citrus orchards are being established, and production of persimmons, apples and pears is expanding, giving farmers in that area a better reason for optimism.
Another union board member, Eyyup Elmalı, said many orchards were left nearly fruitless last year because of the frost shock. Against that weak base, he now expects higher yields in cherries, plums, apples and pears, a shift that could help ease prices. Cherry prospects in particular look stronger, and if no hail arrives, harvesting is expected to intensify from around May 10.
The Turkish case shows how quickly weather extremes can reset production expectations in horticulture. Better blossom counts do not automatically translate into stronger crops when heavy rain or hail follow at the wrong time. For growers, the 2026 season is therefore not only about replacing last year’s losses but also about testing how resilient orchards can be in a climate that is becoming harder to predict.