Farmers plant 20 pct more garlic

KASTAMONU - Anatolia News Agency

There has been a 20 percent increase in the planting of garlic bulbs in the region compared with last year, according to Taşköprü Garlic Producers Union President Abdullah Eligüzeloğlu.

Because of prevailing weather conditions, Eligüzeloğlu explained that there had been a delay in garlic planting as temperatures were in the normal rage and there was sufficient rainfall in the Taşköprü region in Turkey’s Black Sea coast near Kastamonu. These factors helped to foster quick growth, he told Anatolia news agency.

Eligüzeloğlu also said that because of the influx of Chinese garlic last year, local producers had been hurt. In order not to suffer a similar outcome this year, they plan to pay a visit with the Kastamonu Member of Parliament to Turkey’s Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, to ask for the implementation of a customs tax on imported garlic.