Strategies for Improved Pest Management in Turkish Hazelnut Growing

Abstract

Turkey is by far the world's leading producer and exporter of hazelnuts. Its hazelnut agro-ecosystem stretches across approximately six hundred thousand hectares of Turkey's Black Sea region and is highly suited to all facets of biological control and the implementation of IPM. Pests cause substantial losses in production, but integrated pest management (IPM) has not been adopted by growers. This is despite a wealth of IPM research from Turkey and abroad, probably because an industry-wide IPM approach has not yet been developed. Consequently, growers respond to pests with a wide spectrum of approaches from non-intervention to organic methods and multiple chemical treatments. This paper reviews plantation management practices and IPM research, discusses the barriers to, and opportunities of IPM implementation; and makes recommendations.