Türkiye looks to raise blueberry production

A statement given to Bloomberg HT by Levent Sarılgan, founder and chairman of Alova Farm, was carried on 12–13 September 2026 by a large number of digital outlets, among them birincihaber.com.tr, birincifinans.com.tr, gaziosmanpasahaber.com.tr, arifiyehaber.com.tr and gordeshaber.com.tr. The report examined Türkiye’s search for higher blueberry output.

While Türkiye stands among the world’s leading fruit producers, it has yet to reach the desired level of production in blueberries, one of the higher value-added crops. Total output stands at around 8,000 tonnes and consumption per capita at about 100 grams. Investment aimed at raising production, developing the domestic market and growing exports is, however, gathering pace.

A 1,000-tonne target across 400 decares

Sarılgan, who entered agriculture in his fifties, said he turned to high value-added crops in order to make use of the 70 decares of land he owned, starting with strawberries and in time finding blueberries more advantageous among berry crops in terms of shelf life and added value. He said the business currently holds 150,000 pots and will raise capacity with 50,000 new seedlings arriving in November, adding that they plan to expand the growing area to 400 decares and produce 1,000 tonnes of blueberries.

Investment in technology and exports

Noting that they also draw on technology in production, Sarılgan said TÜBİTAK’s leaf analysis and harvest forecasting projects are being run in their orchards, and that a newly acquired machine can sort 3 tonnes of fruit an hour by size and quality characteristics. He said they plan to begin exporting from next year, aiming to send two trucks of blueberries a week to Spain and the Netherlands, and to grow their presence in international markets through the company’s American partner.

“Access to financing makes investment harder”

Sarılgan said access to financing is a significant problem for new orchard investments, that entrepreneurs struggle to take on new investment under current interest conditions, that Ziraat Bankası’s financing ceiling for orchard establishment is insufficient and that subsidies remain limited. Stressing that their cooperation with Letven Capital allowed them to cover in two years ground that would normally have taken five, he said they have developed two different financing models for other entrepreneurs.

Sarılgan noted that China is the world’s largest blueberry producer and that a significant share of the product on Turkish supermarket shelves comes from Peru, underlining the need to raise domestic production and support domestic growers. He also pointed to the gap between farm-gate and retail prices as a problem for producers, noting that a product bought from the farmer at TRY 250 a kilo can sell in supermarkets for as much as TRY 450.