09.09.2025 10:51
In the Southeastern Anatolia Region, the harvest of pistachios, known as 'green gold', is ongoing. Cuma Yiğit, the Provincial Coordination President of the Gaziantep Agricultural Chambers, stated that this year there has been an 80% decrease in yield due to agricultural frost and drought, and they expect a harvest of around 25,000 tons in the city.
The harvest season for Antep pistachios, which is one of the important sources of livelihood in Gaziantep, is ongoing. The harvest, which started in early August, is expected to be completed by the end of September.
PRODUCERS ARE ANXIOUS Pistachio workers go to the orchards in groups in the morning and work for 8 hours in temperatures reaching 40 degrees. The workers spread tarpaulins under the trees and collect the pistachios from the branches by hand one by one. Later, the pistachios are placed in sacks, loaded onto tractors, and taken to facilities for sorting. Due to insufficient rainfall caused by climate change across Turkey, the loss of yield and harvest has worried producers even more, along with the effects of agricultural frost.
"WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PISTACHIOS" Cuma Yiğit, the Provincial Coordination President of Gaziantep Agricultural Chambers, stated that the pistachio harvest is ongoing and will be completed in the coming weeks. Yiğit mentioned that they do not expect yield for 3 years due to agricultural frost and expressed concerns about the future of pistachios. He noted that pistachios yield one year and do not yield the next, and this year is a 'no' year, emphasizing that there is an 80% decrease in harvest compared to last year. "The harvest of green pistachios in Gaziantep has been completed. Currently, the harvest of red pistachios has started. This year, there has been no yield for pistachios due to both the 'no' year and drought and agricultural frost events. The cold has affected the pistachio trees. There will be no yield for 3 years where the cold has struck. Drought also negatively affects the pistachios very severely. We are concerned about the future of pistachios with this drought. Last year, despite being a 'yes' year for pistachios, we obtained a harvest of 118,000 tons. This year is a 'no' year. This year, the harvest is 80% less than last year's harvest. We expect a harvest of around 25,000 tons," he said.
"PRODUCT IS SCARCE, PRICE IS HIGH" Cuma Yiğit stated that prices are high due to the scarcity of products, saying, "If there had been no frost events, we thought we would reach last year's harvest this year as well. Because new saplings are constantly being planted and harvested. This year's harvest expectation is only 20% of last year's. This year, red pistachios are sold for 650 lira. Fresh red pistachios are around 430 lira. Farmers cannot even cover their labor costs with the pistachios they harvested this year. The reason for the high price of pistachios is the scarcity of the product," he said.