Istanbul sunflower harvest expected to surge 25 percent

ISTANBUL

A vibrant sunflower blooms in the foreground of a field under a blue sky.

Heavy rainfall is driving expectations for a 20 to 25 percent surge in Istanbul’s sunflower harvest this year.

The city produced 44,000 tons of sunflowers last year, with yields concentrated in Silivri, Çatalca, Arnavutköy and Büyükçekmece, districts on the European outskirts bordering the Thrace region.

Emre Uysal, 35, cultivates oilseed sunflowers on a 300-decare field in Çatalca’s Bahşayiş village. Holding a master’s degree and farming since he was 20, Uysal is the youngest producer in his neighborhood.

“Our region is humid and rainfall is quite high this year,” Uysal said.

He rotates crops annually between sunflowers and wheat, selling his harvest to local merchants, Agricultural Credit Cooperatives and Trakya Birlik, a prominent regional agricultural cooperative union.

Both Uysal and Korkut Arıkan, a fourth-generation farmer with 40 years of experience, utilize seeds secured via a 75 percent grant from the Çatalca District Agriculture Directorate.

Arıkan, who cultivates a 200-decare field, noted the crop’s cost advantage.

“Wheat takes nine months, while sunflowers are planted in May and harvested in mid-September,” Arıkan said.

Both producers urged younger generations to engage in farming, describing agriculture as an open-air factory.

Sunflowers are Türkiye’s primary source of edible oil. State bodies provide substantial seed subsidies to reduce import reliance and encourage farmers to expand cultivation areas across the Marmara region.