NEŞET UÇAR: NUMBER OF PISTACHIO TREES INCREASE UNPREDICTABLY

Due to the high return on pistachio, the interest of producers is increasing.

Chairman of Gaziantep Pistachio Industrialists' Association, Neşet Uçar said that previously consumed as a snack pistachios is now an industrial product.

Stating that currently pistachios consumption of 10 large companies equals to about a thousand tons monthly, Uçar said, "So the pistachio is now indispensable to the industrialists. Therefore consumption is much more than before."



Uçar also noted that the future of pistachio was quite good and 220 thousand tons yield was obtained last year, "The number of trees in pistachio is increasing unpredictably. About 10 years later we can get 400 thousand tons of pistachio harvest. So we can reach twice the present. The producer increases the interest of pistachio because it is a product that provides much more income compared to most agricultural products" he added.

Call for incentives...

Uçar expects that the presence of pistachio tree increase rapidly, pointing out that some arrangements should be made on behalf of the future of pistachio nuts, he concluded:

"It is not indirect support to pistachio nuts, but it is necessary to give direct product support just like hazelnuts. We must ensure that a certain fee is given per kilogram of product. Thus being unrecorded is prevented. Crop product intake is increased. While 11-12 kgs are taken per tree at world standards, we can have 5-6 kgs in average. The main reason for this is informality. We believe that we can overcome some problems with the incentive regulation.