With the rapidly increasing utilization in agriculture around the world, geothermal energy stands as a key driver for diversifying the products and spreading them to all regions regardless of their climate in Turkey, which holds leadership in Europe in terms of geothermal resources.
Geothermal energy, which has more than 1,500 natural outlets in Turkey, has potential to reshape agriculture in the country and is quite sufficient to grow all kinds of agricultural products in every province via greenhouses operating with these resources, said Ali Kındap, Chairman of the Geothermal Energy Association (JED).
"With the untapped geothermal resources under our feet, we can grow tomatoes in Ağrı, bananas in Van and strawberries in Erzurum. We could even create new globally recognized brands, like the 'Anamur banana,'" Kındap said. "We have some truly unique examples of these productions. The productivity and yield in these examples are easily on par with countries that have a strong presence in this field worldwide," Kındap added.
The summer vegetable tomato produced in geothermal energy greenhouses at minus 35 degrees in Diyadin, a 1,925-meter-altitude district of the eastern province of Ağrı, is in higher demand compared to those grown in the southern city of Antalya thanks to their high quality, he said.
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