Tomatoes grown from native ancestral seeds by entrepreneurial ladies in Ayaş of Mersin province, Türkiye shall be accessible on the market in chain markets in Ankara and Istanbul.
In Ayaş, well-known for its tomatoes, feminine entrepreneurs who produce sauce and puree from their very own fields’ harvests have began planting ancestral tomato seeds in fields, exporting to Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom and a few African international locations, marking one other milestone.
The crops harvested by the feminine entrepreneurs who carry collectively century-old seeds with the soil after years and the tomato juices they put together shall be accessible on the market in chain markets in Ankara and Istanbul.
Zehra Varol, the president of Ayaş Akkaya Agricultural Development Cooperative, acknowledged to an Andalou Agency (AA) reporter that they began with 11 ladies farmers and now proceed their work with over 30 companions.
Varol emphasised that each one companions are feminine farmers from the village and that the cooperative was established in 2007. Since 2015, they’ve been producing merchandise like sauce and scrambled eggs from natural tomatoes.
Varol additionally talked about that they’re now making a breakthrough by beginning to plant conventional tomato seeds within the fields, which that they had beforehand solely grown in small quantities for their very own wants.
Varol defined that they’ve been harvesting the seeds by planting small quantities in their very own gardens for years to maintain the standard seeds contemporary. She mentioned they’re making an attempt to protect the heritage entrusted to them on this method.
She additionally emphasised that whereas 80% of the tomatoes produced from these seeds are water and due to this fact not appropriate for sauce making, they’re very tasty as a result of they’re fully pure.
“Now, we have signed contracts with major chain markets. Our traditional Ayaş tomatoes will now be on market shelves. They will be available for sale in Ankara and Istanbul this year. Sales nationwide may be possible in the following years. Fresh, juicy, delicious Ayaş tomatoes will enter our citizens’ tables and add flavor to their meals,” she mentioned.
“Now, our children will not miss out on the taste of tomatoes from ancestral seeds. We are happy to start growing the real Ayaş tomatoes that our grandmothers used to grow in our childhood. When you cut these tomatoes, they are white as if frost had hit them, and their flavor, aroma and taste are unmatched by any other tomato,” she added.
Varol acknowledged that they first flip the seeds into seedlings in greenhouses, and so they begin planting them within the fields in May. She mentioned the harvest shall be collected round Aug. 15 and put up on the market.
Varol additionally highlighted one other characteristic of tomatoes from ancestral seeds, saying, “Our ancestral seeds have also been registered as a geographical indication, which is an additional pride for us.”
“We look after these seedlings like our own children,” mentioned 68-year-old Fatma Uyar, vice chairman of the cooperative who has been farming for the reason that age of 12. “Since my childhood, we’ve been planting tomatoes, tending to them like our own children. We nurture the seedlings as if they were our own. And in return, they give us tomatoes,” she mentioned.
Emphasizing that they’re the heirs of conventional seeds, Uyar mentioned they plant the tomato seedlings they’ve nurtured into the soil and really feel the happiness of rising juicy and completely native merchandise as they did of their childhood.
“We care for these seedlings as if they were our own children. They are a precious part of us,” she mentioned.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
