‘Irrigate citrus groves with fresh Turkish water’
FRUIT processing centres are sitting idle for large chunks of the week during what should be one of their busiest periods because of poor yields from Güzelyurt, producers and sellers have claimed.
They blamed the use of salty water for causing some orange groves to “die out” and called on the government to urgently implement plans to irrigate the land with fresh water currently being pumped to North Cyprus via an undersea pipeline from Turkey.
Ahmet Hastürk, chairman of the Mediterranean Citrus Exporters’ Union and a representative of the Kalyoncu Packing Plant, said the company had created a “beautiful packing factory” that boasted “modern machinery” but which was only being put to use on “some days of the week” — despite it being harvest season for Valencia oranges.
He said competition meant that goods had to be of a high quality to command “higher prices” on international markets.
He urged officials to “pay more attention” to the Güzelyurt area and make decisions “concerning irrigation and planned production”.
“Sustainable production is a must in [the] citrus [sector],” Mr Hastürk said.
“We must create groves that are more productive and of a better quality. Water is very important for this. Water must reach Güzelyurt immediately . . . The packing facilities are ready but we are not using them because we are having problems . . . because of the quality of the products.”
His views were backed by North Cyprus Citrus Producers’ Union chairman Turgut Akçın, who warned that more orange groves would suffer if they were not irrigated with conditions for producers were getting “worse by the day”. “Our biggest problem is water,” he said. “The water from Turkey has not yet reached us. We are forced to irrigate with salinated water and this naturally deals a blow to the product.”
Last September, Turkey and the TRNC agreed to dig a huge new tunnel connecting the Geçitköy dam near the north coast to crops in Güzelyurt and the central Mesaoria plain — a scheme former prime minister Hüseyin Özgürgün said would be a “game changer” for the agriculture sector.
Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister Erkut Şahali said last month that work on the tunnel was ongoing and expressed the new government’s determination to see Turkish water supplied throughout the country.