Melek Onal, who lives in Giresun's Dereli neighborhood, grows fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse she built with support from a project to advance greenhouse vegetable growing. Onal, a mother of two who lives at an elevation of 1,530 meters in the town of Yavuzkemal, decided to construct a greenhouse on the property adjacent to her house.
Onal applied to the Giresun Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry's Giresun Province Rural Income Sources Diversification Project to build this greenhouse. With the project's assistance, Melek Onal constructed a 250-square-meter greenhouse in her Sihlar neighborhood garden last year.
As part of the Yavuzkemal Municipality's Greenhouse Vegetable Cultivation Development Project, Onal also planted seeds and seedlings of a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as watermelons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squash. Melek Onal, a grower, told the media that she chose to begin growing in a greenhouse after being inspired by a municipal display greenhouse.
Onal stated that she started growing fruits and vegetables in a greenhouse last year and that she receives assistance from the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry as well as the municipality. "I saw the greenhouse our mayor built," Onal said, adding that she grows a variety of fruits and vegetables in his greenhouse, such as eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.
"I've become my own boss," Onal said, adding that she has started harvesting some of the food she planted in the greenhouse in May. "I'm overjoyed. Working for ourselves enables us to make a living." Onal sells her products at markets in Dereli and Giresun and anticipates a yield of about one ton from the greenhouse.
Onal noted that she also occasionally sells directly from the greenhouse and added, "We wanted this to be a source of income for our household, and it has. I'm overjoyed."
Source: AA
