Frost, hail, heat hit Turkey’s lemon crop

“At first, there was the frost, and we lost a lot of blossoms. Then we had a very severe hailstorm when the fruits were small,’ grimaces Turkish citrus farmer Aleaddin Cogal.

- CAN EROK HAZEL WARD

“Then we were hit by a heatwave, and the sun was so intense that it literally boiled the fruit, killing it says the 42-year-old, describing a string of extreme weather events that have ravaged his lemon plantation in the southern Adana region, one of Turkey's most important agricultural areas.

“We lost nearly 40% of our produce due to these three disasters,’ he says, his trees laden with green fruit, their skin split open or showing ugly brown blisters from August's withering heatwave.

Kemal Siga, one of the workers who was working when temperatures peaked last month, said it was as if the crop had been ravaged by fire.

“T've never experienced a day like this — it felt like there was a wildfire. It ruined the groves’” he told AFP.

Like many of its Mediterranean neighbours, Turkey has seen a growing number of extreme weather events in recent years as the effects of global warming gather pace, with rural farming communities particularly vulnerable.

Mehmet Akin Dogan, head of the Yuregir chamber of agriculture, said farmers were under increasing pressure in the fertile Cukurova valley around Adana, which produces about 40% of Turkey’s citrus crops.