Following the recent introduction of a “hazelnut strategy,” the government has announced it will take unauthorized hazelnut land out of production and encourage farmers to switch to other crops options. Planning to remove already-planted hazelnut saplings on unauthorized land, the government expects to obliterate illegal hazelnut production within the next three years.
In Turkey, the world's top hazelnut producer, hazelnut farmers must register for production licenses. Unauthorized hazelnut farms in the country have spread out over a total of 236 million square meters. According to the Agriculture Ministry's calculations, a farmer will make a net TL 25,600 profit per 1,000 square meter if he switches to growing cut flowers -- this number is TL 249 for hazelnut production. Also, a farmer will earn 24 times the money he earns from hazelnuts per square meter should he switch to greenhouse tomato production, while blueberries would provide 16 times the earnings a farmer makes from hazelnut crops per square meter.
