Seyma Serinkaya built Turkey's largest soilless strawberry production greenhouse in Mugla, in the South-West of Turkey. There, Serinkaya will start exporting by producing on an acreage of 4.5 hectares in the next 3 years.
Seyma Serinkaya, who worked in the finance sector after her university education, said, “Having my own business was my biggest dream. I did the research for about 1.5 years. I talked to companies and manufacturers located in Antalya and companies that set up greenhouses. Strawberry is a product with a very high added value so that's why we decided to invest in it."
"We have benefited from the support funds provided to women entrepreneurs in the financing of the investment. We have focused primarily on exports with the slogan but we had our first harvest in March as the planting was delayed to the end of December for technical reasons. When I took the first samples to a few specific patisseries in Bodrum, they were very impressed with the taste of the products. Some of them directly tried to place orders."
There was no pandemic yet when Seyma decided to make the investment, and she does not want to produce a product other than strawberry with the possible exception of blueberries.
"Currently, the biggest greenhouse in this area is in Antalya with 2.5 hectares. My goal is to be the largest producer of soilless strawberry agriculture in Turkey. Therefore, we continue to negotiate with the landowners nearby our greenhouse as we want to include the land next to and across our greenhouse."
Source: Dunya