Organic Cotton and Cotton Fiber Production in Turkey, Recent Developments

Abstract

Cotton has been used for many years in many different regions of the world. It is a strategic fiber owing to its wide usage leading to high employment opportunities in textile sector. Turkey has a considerable contribution on the world textile and apparel industry with its cotton fiber growing capacity and textile and clothing manufacturing capacity. Cotton cultivation areas in the world are located between the north parallels of 32-36 which reveal the warm climate features. Turkey locates in the north board of world cotton cultivation area. In Turkey, cotton farming is carried out mainly in four regions: Aegean, Çukurova, Southeastern Anatolia and Antalya where climate and grown cotton properties of each region differs. "Why organic cotton in Turkey" is an important question which has many reasonable and satisfying answers. Turkey has well established organic cotton regions and cotton yields are considerably high in the country. In this chapter, organic and conventionally grown cotton fibers are handled with a broad perspective in terms of cotton fiber cultivation and recent development about these fiber types in Turkey. Firstly, organic cotton and organic cotton fiber cultivation in Turkey, organic cotton growing regions in Turkey, limitations for the organic cotton markets, lack of Information on cost of production, marketing and future trends will be reviewed and discussed in detail. Moreover, general cultivation in lands and cotton fiber yield in Turkey are given in detail and information about the encountered diseases and pests during the cotton fiber cultivation are explained.