Self-Sufficient Army: Met with 3.5 million seedling producers

The Ordu Metropolitan Municipality continues to support farmers. Having distributed approximately 3.5 million seedlings to producers, the municipality grows vegetable seedlings in its own greenhouses.

To promote vegetable cultivation in covered and open areas in Ordu, a total of 3 million 400 thousand vegetable seedlings were distributed to producers, both for summer and winter. As part of the support for covered cultivation, 30 greenhouses of 240 square meters each and 10 greenhouses of 500 square meters were provided, along with 36 thousand 800 square meters of greenhouse cover support.

Growing seedlings in its own greenhouse
Five years ago, initiated under the slogan ‘Self-Sufficient City’ by Mayor Güler, one of the activities is the seedling production greenhouse established in the Turnasuyu neighborhood of the Altınordu district, where 300 thousand summer and 600 thousand winter seedlings are grown. The seedlings produced in the municipality’s own greenhouses are provided to producers at one-third of the cost.
Mayor of Ordu Metropolitan Municipality, Dr. Mehmet Hilmi Güler, stated that they will connect the seedlings with the producers, saying, “This is where we produce seedlings. Currently, there are 600 thousand lettuce seedlings here. Among them, 500 thousand are curly, 50 thousand are red lettuce, and 50 thousand are the iceberg lettuce we call ‘yedikule’. We will distribute these to our people.”

“New products are emerging in addition to hazelnuts and kiwis”
Mayor Güler also inspected a greenhouse where 25 different tropical fruits are produced, stating that new products will emerge in addition to hazelnuts and kiwis from the studies conducted on these 25 products. Mayor Güler said:
“Additionally, we have mango production in our adjacent greenhouse. We have a banana trial which yielded very good results. We have also tried Passiflora, pineapple, and coffee. With these efforts, we have demonstrated that these products can also be grown in our city. Our R&D studies continue. Our goal is to develop alternative products to hazelnuts. Kiwi has been successful in our region. Passiflora is also a very attractive product. It can be grown outside greenhouses in Ordu. It is a valuable product with a future. Its leaves can also be used as medicine. With these efforts, we aim to open a new horizon and income opportunity for Ordu. We have achieved our goal.”

Vegetables are grown from seeds
The summer and winter vegetable seedlings distributed to producers by the Ordu Metropolitan Municipality have been grown from seeds in a greenhouse belonging to the Department of Agriculture and Livestock Services since 2022.
The teams that purchase the necessary seeds and materials for vegetable seedling cultivation are connecting the seedlings they grow with producers for a symbolic contribution fee. Thus, instead of purchasing ready seedlings, the application of growing seedlings from seeds reduces the amount spent from the Metropolitan Municipality’s budget for this activity by about five times.

This year, 600 thousand lettuce seedlings will be distributed
The Ordu Metropolitan Municipality will distribute 600 thousand winter lettuce seedlings this year. Starting from this year, 600 thousand winter vegetable seedlings and 300 thousand summer vegetable seedlings will continue to be provided to producers.