Data gathering on Turkish tomato growers’ practices and the impact of root knot nematodes

From 2 to 8 February 2025, the NEM-EMERGE Ondokuz Mayıs University and The James Hutton Institute teams worked together for data gathering in Türkiye. At the beginning of February, four project partners travelled to find out more about Turkish tomato growers’ practices and the impact of root knot nematodes.

Before the meeting, the Agricultural Affairs Unit of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, officials from Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, and the Çanakkale Provincial Directorate and Gelibolu District Directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who responded positively to the administrative support letter from Ondokuz Mayıs University, actively sent invitations to tomato producers and were extremely helpful in reaching as many producers as possible and completing the surveys.

After brief information about NEM-EMERGE was given to tomato producers at the meetings, the surveys were distributed to the producers, and one-on-one assistance was provided during the completion of the surveys. After completing the survey, brief information about root-knot nematodes was given.

Three meetings in Silivri, Gelibolu, and Çanakkale were organised with more than 100 tomato growers and allowed for data gathering through a survey. The team also met with Koy (villages) managers, cooperative directives and agricultural ministers. “We learned a lot about open field tomato growing system and enjoyed the beautiful Turkish and its food. Many thanks to all involved in the organisation and running of these meetings, Turkish partners and all agricultural engineers who helped with the translation of the surveys”, stated the JHI representative Luz María Lozada.