KIWIFRUIT (Actinidia deliciosa) CULTIVATION AND ITS PLACE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE IN TURKEY

Kiwifruit, one of the last fruits of the culture, has shown a very rapid development in its short history. Commercial production and marketing of fruit was initially limited only to New Zealand, but over time, it has shown a rapid development with the interest of fruit and the starting of new producers. Kiwifruit agriculture, especially in Mediterranean countries, started to be carried out in different parts of the world in a short time. Turkey is also one of the countries where rapid and remarkable progress in the area of agriculturel activities concerned. With the history of nearly 30 years, kiwi cultivation in Turkey, showed a significant improvement during this time. While it could not even supply 10 % of its needs at the beginning, it became supply more than 90 % of its needs by 2017. In general, kiwifruit agriculture, which is based in Yalova and Eastern Black Sea, has started to be carried out in a wider area as new producers from Marmara and Mediterranean Regions started to operate. In relation to the production of kiwifruit which positively affected agricultural life in the areas where intensive cultivation is carried out, Turkey is also expected to in later years settled between major exporters such as Iran and Greece. In this study, analyzing the cultivation of kiwifruit in the focus of agricultural geography, developments in Turkey as for these activities have been discussed