According to a recent report from the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat, Turkey’s fruit and vegetables cultivation in 2010 is expected to be lower than last year.

TurkStat - as reported by Turkish English-language leading newspaper Hurriyet - estimated that vegetable cultivation will fall by 0.9 percent to 26.5 million tons and fruit cultivation by 1.5 percent to 16.4 million tons.

The decreasing vegetables cultivation statistics are a 4.5 percent decrease in tomatoes, 10.1 percent in zucchini and 5.1 percent in carrots; the statistics for cultivation rises are a 12.9 percent increase in onions, 12.4 percent for red peppers and 6.5 percent for regular peppers, 2.2 percent for fresh beans and 1.8 percent for aubergine.

According to the data, apple cultivation will fall by an estimated 12.3 percent. The ratio is 31.9 percent for apricots, 2.1 percent for plums, 3.4 percent for peaches and 12.7 percent for olives.

The report envisages no significant change in orange, tangerine and lemon cultivation but anticipates a 30.9 percent decrease in hazelnut cultivation, 44.3 percent increase in pistachios and 3.8 percent decrease in walnuts.

In grape production, the decline in production will reportedly be 1.6 percent. The report states that banana cultivation may rise by 3.4 percent and fig by 3.5 percent.