The humble tomato, (Solanum lycopersicum), is technically a fruit.  It originated in South America, and has been grown as a crop for thousands of years.  The tomato spread to other parts of the world following the colonisation of South America, by the Spanish.

In Turkey, the tomato is grown in huge quantities - over 11 million tonnes of fruit every year. 

Turkey is the third largest grower in the world, after the USA and China.  Around 30% of Turkish tomatoes are processed in some way, for example, turned into paste.

In fact, to call it the 'humble tomato' is doing it a great disservice.  It is versatile, colourful, and flavoursome, and is loved by cooks around the Mediterranean, and indeed all over the world, as one of the most ubiquitous ingredients you can have in your food cupboard.

Research suggests that eating tomatoes is good for you.  They contain a natural antioxidant, lycopene, as well as vitamins A and C.  It is claimed that the consumption of tomatoes may be associated with decreased risk of some types of cancer, protects against neurodegenerative diseases, and is good for your heart.

There are over 60 varieties of tomato grown in Turkey.  They are a mainstay of the agricultural economy, and nowhere more so than in the villages around Kalkan.  Many of the glass greenhouses or poly-tunnels that you will have seen on your drive from Dalaman to Kalkan, are dedicated to growing tomatoes. 

In this part of Turkey, 99% of the tomato seeds planted, come from Israel, and the main time of year for planting is September and October, with harvest in March and April.

Kalkan Turkish Local News went to Yeşilköy and Ova to take a closer look.  We started by looking around a local farm, belonging to Sabri.  He has a couple of poly-tunnels that mostly produce tomatoes, with a few other fruits and vegetables dotted around.

The tunnels are over 100 metres long, with row after row of neatly trimmed plants, which are tended by Sabri and his family.  The irrigation system is simple, but effective, with hundreds of metres of black plastic hose laid on the ground, with strategically placed holes to water each plant.  Each one can produce 6 to 8 kilos of fruit.

Sabri is one of hundreds of small scale farmers, who take their crops to the local village packing plants, where they are inspected, graded, sorted and packed, before being transported by road to some distant market.  We visited the Tekasya packing plant in Ova.

Tekasya is Turkey's third largest exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables.  It was established in Antakya in 1983.  The company exports more than 64,000 tonnes of fresh food every year, to more than 20 countries.  And some of that starts right here, in the Kalkan hinterland.

Süleyman Güleray has been the manager of the Ova packing plant for 15 years.  He spends 8 months of the year in Ova and Fethiye and the remaining 4 months in Mersin.  The Tekasya plants that he manages, mostly deal with tomatoes, but also some other fruits, such as peaches.

We saw one local farmer bringing his tomatoes to the Tekasya packing plant.  They turn up regularly throughout the day - from 8 am to 8pm, in the peak of the season - which is about now.  Süleyman (near right, above), will take a look and offer the going rate for the day, which is currently a fraction over 1TL per kilo - depending on the quality, of course.

Once accepted, the tomatoes are unloaded off the tractor and brought into the warehouse, where a team of 30 staff, get to work on sorting them and packaging them into Tekasya boxes.  The routine is well rehearsed.  Ladies stand by a conveyor belt and do the grading and sorting, whilst the men do the fetching and carrying.  

Tomatoes from the farmer are put on to a conveyor belt, and every lady picks up the fruit until she has a full Tekasya box, which is placed on a second conveyor belt.  When a new cardboard box is required, the packer simply raises her hand to pluck one from the overhead revolving carousel.

At the far end of the conveyor belt, one of the men will take the full box and stack it on a pallet with hundreds of other boxes.  These are then wheeled on to the back of huge lorries, mostly bound for foreign destinations.  The lorry we saw being loaded was bound for Poland.

Despite the repetitive nature of the work, there is a good, friendly atmosphere.  Turkish music is playing on a radio, and the workers are teasing each other about who should be photographed by the yabanci visitor.  We understand that the going rate for working in such an establishment is between 25 & 30TL per day.

Currently (March 2010), this unit will send out 4 full lorries a day, each one with 20 to 21 tonnes of tomatoes.  Every box contains around 6 kilos of tomatoes.  We will let you do the maths on how many boxes that is per lorry!

Most of the produce from this plant is for export, mainly to Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Russia.  Thankfully though, some of this local produce is kept back for us in Kalkan.  

Depending on where you come from, you may say 'tom-ay-to' or you may say 'tom-ah-to', but we say three cheers, for the totally tasty Turkish tomato.