They are the world’s No1 exporters of
Marmaris Turkey – You wouldn’t want to be a pork producer in Turkey. About 95 per cent of the population is Muslim and they don’t eat pig meat. It is not on the menu at tourist hotels – no bacon and eggs for breakfast.
About 50 per cent of that population of 72 million are practising Muslims.
Turkey is a country of huge contrasts. I saw a few people with horses and carts, though most places had state-of-the-art tractors pulling heavy machinery. The country ranges from pine-clad hills (naturally occurring pine trees), to the plains, which are home to wheat and sugar beet growing.
I didn’t go to many of the livestock farming areas, but saw a couple of herds of cattle, and mobs of sheep and goats. The odd dog seemed more interested in its surroundings than the sheep.
Eastern Turkey is renowned for its livestock farming. There, people have herds of about 200 cattle. In some cases, they farm animals on behalf of others. They have hard winters, so the stock is housed during the winter months.
Turkey is one of seven countries in the world that produces enough food to be self-sufficient. They are the world’s No1 exporters of apricots, figs, cherries, hazel nuts, and pistachios. The pistachios are small and grey, and very tasty, I was assured.
Some 45 per cent of the population is engaged in some way in agriculture. It would make a sizeable voting bloc. Around the Marmaris Sea, sunflowers and rice are grown. By the Black Sea, tea. They import all their coffee though.
They are major pumpkin growers – for the seeds, which are roasted and salted.
Some of the fleshy part goes to pumpkin pie dessert, but most of it is for stock food.
Kemal Ataturk, the father of the nation, who died in 1938, created the bank that let people buy farmland, and the tractors to work it.
Jill Galloway travelled in Turkey courtesy of New Zealand-based Innovative Travel Company.
