Rice planting has begun in the fields nourished by the snow water of Mount Ilgaz

Rice cultivation has started in the fields fed by the snow waters of Mount Ilgaz in the Ilgaz district of Çankırı, one of Turkey’s important rice production centers. Farmers, sweating in the water up to their knees, are working intensively for the Sarıkılçık rice, which they claim to be Turkey’s highest quality rice.

In Çankırı, one of Turkey’s important rice production centers where an average of 30 thousand tons of rice is produced annually, farmers have started their rice cultivation. With the warming weather, rice producers in the Ilgaz district have started giving the snow waters from Mount Ilgaz to the fields they have allocated. The fields in the villages around Devrez Stream have started to meet with ‘Sarıkılçık’ rice after the water is given. Farmers, stepping into the water up to their knees, sweat to grow the best rice in Turkey. Starting work early in the morning, farmers sprinkle the seeds onto the rice fields by hand. The planting of rice will be completed by the end of May, and the harvest is planned to be done in September and October.

Farmers living in the Ilgaz district emphasize that Sarıkılçık rice, which has a lower sugar content compared to other rice types and is indispensable for its taste, is primarily produced in the Ilgaz district, and they say that Sarıkılçık rice grown in other provinces cannot be of higher quality.

‘The only rice not genetically modified is Sarıkılçık rice’
Hüseyin Çelik, who has been involved in rice production since childhood in the Ilgaz district, said, ‘I have been doing this job since I was born. Our livelihood is rice. We used to do animal husbandry, but they stopped that. We grow rice now. The rice we grow is Sarıkılçık rice. We want it to be known as Ilgaz Sarıkılçık rice. Sarıkılçık rice is our seed that comes from our ancestors. We produce seeds every year with the product we grow continuously. The only rice not genetically modified is Sarıkılçık rice. Its sugar content is very low. Sarıkılçık rice is sold in different places. But those who want to buy it should try to buy it from the producer. It is not 100% original in wholesalers. Buyers should prefer Ilgaz Sarıkılçık rice. The Ilgaz district of Kastamonu also embraced Sarıkılçık rice. But it definitely grows in four villages of Ilgaz. It does not grow anywhere else. We have tried 21 different types of rice here, but we could not get any efficiency from any of them. But the feature of our rice inherited from our ancestors comes from the water coming from Mount Ilgaz. You can feed 10 people with 1 kilogram of Sarıkılçık rice. You cannot feed 5 people with normal rice. Another name for this rice is pot-bursting. The pot it is cooked in should be wide. The increase is too much.’

‘We will introduce Ilgaz’s Sarıkılçık rice to the whole world’
Çelik stated that they want to introduce Ilgaz Sarıkılçık rice to the whole world and said, ‘Our Mayor of Ilgaz made necessary initiatives. Hopefully, we will establish a rice factory here. After establishing it, we will not have any business with the market. We will introduce Ilgaz’s Sarıkılçık rice to the whole world. We just don’t want it to stay in Ilgaz. Citizens know it as Tosya rice because we could not promote it. This rice only grows in the four villages of Ilgaz. It does not grow anywhere else. Even if it grows in Tosya, it is more preferred here. The highest quality Sarıkılçık rice in Turkey is grown in Ilgaz. The rice sold as Sarıkılçık in other places is not Ilgaz rice. Our buyers should buy directly from the producer.’