A recent lack of domestic demand for Turkish watermelons has resulted in a severe slash in the prices of the summer fruit during the initial harvest season, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported. The price per kilogram has fallen as farmers refuse to harvest the crops due to lack of demand.

Yavuz Tezcan, chairman of the Agriculture Chamber of Ceyhan in the southern province of Adana, said the province and its environs provided one fourth of all of Turkey’s watermelons, adding that the annual yield in the region varied between 80,000 and one million.

Tezcan said the lack of demand stemmed from the weather conditions, which have been below the seasonal average for some time.

“Because the weather was cooler, people did not go on holiday,” he said. “As a result, watermelon consumption in tourist regions suffered and this directly resulted in a lack of demand for the fruit. The crops left in the fields will be fed to livestock.”

Hanifi İspir, chairman of the Agriculture Chamber of Kadirli district of the southern province of Osmaniye, formerly a district of Adana, said the lack of demand had caused a huge profit loss for farmers.

An additional factor that had affected the fall in prices was a lack of exports, he said. "Nobody cares about the leftover watermelons in the fields,” he said. “Since it disappointed its cultivators this year, I predict that the area of cultivation of watermelons will further shrink next year.”