Opuntia ficus-indica, a type of cactus also known as “prickly pear” or “Indian fig,” grows in hedges on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast as local climates encourage the spread of the plant.
The plant has high economic value in many countries around the world and Turkey is failing to capitalize on recognized economic potential, while other Mediterranean countries like Italy, Spain, Greece and Tunisia are taking advantage of this potential, cultivating the plant.
The plant originally comes from America and alongside it’ fruit, its leaf-like trunk is used in the preparation of various comestibles, pigment manufacture and animal food. One of the plant’s ecological functions is to help prevent erosion of the land that slopes toward the sea.
Akdeniz University Agriculture faculty professor İbrahim Uzun said that due to its diverse field of applications the plant had a huge economic value and it was a failure on the part of Turkish farmers that the plant was not being used more effectively.
“This plant is most suitable in organic farming. There are no pests whatsoever which live off it. Therefore its cultivation is neither costly nor requires too much attention. The sole issue regarding its cultivation is getting rid of the thorns, for which there are highly developed methods used by the trading countries which overcome the issue very easily.”
The commodity needs entrepreneurs to lead the way
Uzun said that cultivators had grown three different types of the plant bearing different colored fruits, and added that in developed countries the fruit had a large market, particularly in winter, and it was sold at remarkable prices.
“We have the prickly pear randomly almost everywhere in the Mediterranean region. But this is not important. What counts is turning it into a cultivation plant and setting up orchards and converting it into a saleable, exportable market commodity,” Uzun said.
In this sense, according to Uzun what is required initially is entrepreneurs to encourage the cultivation of the plant because farmers will never do it on their own. “Farmers first need to see the results [of cultivation]. Therefore entrepreneurs or public institutions should lead the way.”
He added that the plant’s cultivation was “a piece of cake,” only requiring planting a leaf in the soil, after which it takes root very quickly.
Italy exports 50,000 tons annually
Professor Uzun pointed out that the country which benefited the most from the prickly pear was Italy, where cultivation was moved to the October and November period, rather than the normal period of growth between August and September, in order to be able to launch it in the market as an exotic fruit.
“Prickly pears normally blossom in May and Italian farmers climb up the trees and remove all the flowers. Then, the plant goes into stress and blossoms again in the following month. These flowers become fruit around October or November and, considering the fact that the fruit has a one-month-long preservation duration, Italians launch it to the market in December and January.”
He added that Italy was cultivating the plant in the southern regions of the country and in Sicily, where there is a water shortage. They export around 50,000 tons of prickly pears annually.
Not only a commodity
Uzun said that the prickly pear was not only a valuable commodity, but also, when thoroughly established on the slopes and arid lands in the Mediterranean region it prevents erosion caused by both by rain and wind.
“Using this priceless plant as a mere hedgerow, our people either eat its fruits themselves, or a few people show up selling a small amount on a peddlers counter in open air markets. But this does not accurately reflect the plant’s economic potential.”
He added that we could only see the fruits on the counters in August, and a little in September, and the greatest consumers of the fruit were the people of the Mediterranean region
