Şanlıurfa, which meets around the half of Turkey’s need for cotton production, will sow rough feed plant after the cotton’s harvest. This project aims to decrease Turkey’s feed gap.

“Qualified Rough Feed Production” Project is put into practice in Şanlıurfa, which was selected by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock as a pilot city to develop animal husbandry and produce the rough feed plant. Şanlıurfa meets 45 percent of cotton needs of Turkey. Within the project, which aims to promote the production of rough feed plant, the ministry distributed vetch, feed peas, barley, triticale and lentil seeds to farmers so that they sow these seeds to irrigated farm land, remaining empty between November-May after the cotton’s harvest. The project is implemented initially on 30 thousand decares, but the project will be implemented on 2 million decare areas next year to have 4 million tons rough feed plants. Within the project, farmers will be supported for both cotton and feed plant. Müslüm Beyazgül, the deputy of general manager of Plant Production of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, said that the cotton planting starts in May, and the cotton is harvested around September-October. After the harvest, lands remain empty for 5-6 months. “In order to utilize from this period in Şanlıurfa, we decided to support the plantation of feed plant after the cotton with this pilot project. We distributed seeds to farmers, and they planted vetch, feed peas, and barley, triticale and lentil seeds. By sowing feed plant only in Şanlıurfa before cotton, we can meet the half of Turkey’s demand for rough plant feed,” Beyazgül said.