The Recent Situation of the Processing Tomato Industry in Turkey

Improving Productivity of Open-pollinated Processing Tomato Cultivars

“…A completely randomized block design with three replications was used for this purpose, in Turkey (Erkan et al, 1996;Vural, 1966). For instance, while 60% of the processing tomato fi elds were OPs in 1991, only 20% remained in 1996, which is being estimated to be even lower today (Blake et al, 2003;Erkan et al, 1996). Parallel to these developments, fresh yield was considerably improved from about 20 t•ha -1 in 1960s to 42.4 t•ha -1 in 2000 (Vural, 1966;Vural et al, 2000), a performance that is higher than China (23.9 t•ha -1 ) or India (14.3 t•ha -1 ), however still lower than European countries (44.7 to 59.7 t•ha -1 ) and the U.S. (62.5 t•ha -1 ) (FAOSTAT, 2004).…”

“…In contrast to the OP cultivars which are mostly reproduced in Turkey, hybrid seeds are costly and are almost always imported (Turkish Republic Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, 2002). Their high prices do not fi t to the agricultural production system of Turkey, which is still largely based on smallscale farmers with limited resources (Blake et al, 2003;Erkan et al, 1996). Hence, the impact of industrialization in the food sector and increasing amounts of export has affected the socioeconomic status of the farmer only to a limited extent, since most of the profi ts are given to mediators and marketing experts, especially when there is no contract agreement between the farmers and the food companies.…”

“…Hence, processors prefer hybrids not only for high °B × Y value and yield, but also for governed resistance to major pests and diseases, which are only problems at some sites and soils (Erkan et al, 1996;Gallardo and Calvar, 1992). The need for improved OPs might be more pronounced when the low socioeconomical status of most farmer families in rural areas of Turkey is considered (Blake et al, 2003). In contrast to developed countries, agriculture is being practiced mostly by smallscale farmers, which would possibly accept a certain degree of low yields for high prices, especially in non-infected sites and soils (Gallardo and Calvar, 1992;Tikoo, 1987).…”

“…The continuation of the controlled reproduction of the selected material combined with formal seed distribution will be useful in the future to prevent possible genetic shift towards low yielding populations. This may also enable authorities to perform systematic seed sampling for the control of seed borne viral and bacterial diseases (Blake et al, 2003;Vural et al, 2000).…”

“…The establishment of processing tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) companies in Turkey dates back to 1960s, which today, after half a century, produce 250,000 to 300,000 t of tomato paste each year (Blake et al, 2003). At the beginning, the production was essentially based on open-pollinated (OP) tomato cultivars with little improved traits for technological processing (Vural et al, 2000).…”