Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı, drawing attention to the frost disasters that have been occurring one after another in recent days, said that the lowest temperatures of the last 30 years were recorded in some regions.
In March and April, but especially in the last 3-day period (April 10-11-12), we faced frost, snowfall and hail due to sudden drops in air temperatures. In the last 3 days, when temperatures dropped to 15 degrees in some places, the lowest temperature values of the last 30 years were recorded in some regions. As a result of these adverse weather conditions, we unfortunately experienced one of the biggest agricultural frost events in our history after the big agricultural frost event in 2014.
The frost disaster experienced in different regions of Türkiye caused serious damage to agricultural production. The toll of the frost disaster will become clear in the coming days.
The agricultural frost that occurred after the effective snowfall in Malatya damaged millions of apricot trees. The agricultural frost that occurred after the snowfall that occurred in the evening hours in Malatya, where 85 percent of the world's dried apricot production is met, also hit apricots, which are the backbone of the city's economy. Emphasizing that the situation in Malatya is very bad, Ramazan Özcan, President of Malatya Chamber of Commerce (MTB), said, "We examined the apricot orchards affected by the agricultural frost that occurred after the snowfall that started yesterday evening. The situation we saw is very bad. We lost all of the apricots from which we earn an annual income of over 500 million dollars."
The frost hit millions of apple trees blooming in Karaman. Karaman, which ranks first in Türkiye with over 16 million trees, also ranks second with 500 thousand tons of apples produced annually. Karaman Chamber of Agriculture Board Chairman Mehmet Bayram, who inspected the apple orchards with Apple Producers Association Chairman Celil Serin, said that the air temperatures that dropped to 11 degrees below zero caused serious damage to apple trees.
Apricot, walnut and almond trees were severely damaged due to the frost that occurred after heavy snowfall in the Keban district of Elazığ. Apricot, walnut and almond trees were severely damaged due to agricultural frost. Producers stated that they have already lost a large portion of their crop this year.
The agricultural frost that occurred in many districts of Manisa caused great damage to vineyards. The severe cold weather in Sivas caused the flowers on apricot trees to fall. Apricot trees in the Gürün district of Sivas lost their flowers as temperatures dropped to 15 degrees below zero. Producers say the loss is great.
