Sector representatives were informed before the olive harvest.

The Muğla Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry held a consultation meeting for olive oil producers ahead of the olive harvest season. Speaking at the meeting attended by olive oil factory operators, producers, and sector stakeholders from across Muğla, Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Barış Saylak stated, “Thanks to the incentives and supports provided by our Ministry, Muğla has gained another significant asset in foreign trade with the production of high-quality olives and olive oil. Today, we take pride in sending olive oils branded with our city’s name to many countries around the world.”

The “Olive Oil Consultation Meeting” held in the conference hall of the Muğla Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry was attended not only by producers and businesses but also by heads of institutions and representatives of NGOs. The meeting, which started with an opening speech by Provincial Director Barış Saylak, included a presentation on food hygiene and good practice rules that must be followed in the olive oil production process.

According to the TÜİK-2023 data, there are approximately 19.7 million olive trees in Muğla, producing 175 thousand tons of olive. Director of Agriculture and Forestry Barış Saylak expressed great satisfaction with the widespread adoption of organic and good agricultural practices in olive production.

Director Saylak noted that according to 2023 data, 762 producers are engaged in organic farming on 55 thousand decares, while 116 producers continue production on approximately 14 thousand decares with good agricultural practices. Saylak stated, “The expansion of good agricultural practices initiated under the guidance of our Ministry and with the support of our Provincial and District Directorates shows that Muğla has adopted a production model aiming for quality products in every field, and our producers are becoming increasingly aware of this issue.”

Emphasizing that olive production and cultivation is an ancient culture in Muğla, Saylak explained that significant steps have been taken to improve the production of high-quality olive oil, noting that Muğla ranks second in Turkey for olive oil production with 162,282 tons and fourth in total olive production with 174,398 tons. He added that as the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, a series of studies have been initiated in recent years to overcome the inefficiencies experienced in olive trees in the Muğla geography and to increase quality in production. Saylak continued his speech as follows:

“First, we prepared a project called ‘Identification of the Causes of Inefficiency in Olives and Solutions to Problems’ in our Menteşe, Yatağan, Milas, and Bodrum districts, conducting a study with 54 farmers over 455 decares. Within the scope of this project, we established 2 early warning systems and later increased this number to 5. We are pleased to see that the project, which ended in 2023, has been successful. In addition, under the projects ‘Good Agricultural Practices in Olives’ and ‘The Story of Organic Olive Oil’ supported by the General Directorate of Plant Production of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and carried out by our Directorate, we distributed 2,350 kg of kaolin clay to producers across the province for 400 decares to mitigate the effects of drought in olive groves.”

Full support for olive and olive oil producers

Saylak stated that in 2019, they launched an ‘Olive Oil Quality Competition’ to ensure that olives are transformed into high-quality olive oil without loss and to promote the production of ‘branded’ products. He expressed that due to the competition, which is held for the 5th time this year and has been enriched with the participation of more producers each year, 50 olive oil brands have emerged in Muğla between 2019-2024.