Biotech Studies 2017, Vol 26, Num, 2     (Pages: 216-229)

Evaluation of the Developments in Production and Marketing of Some Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Turkey

Önder Volkan BAYRAKTAR 1 ,Görkem ÖZTÜRK 2 ,Doğan ARSLAN 3

1 Siirt Üniversitesi, Ziraat Fakültesi, Tarım Ekonomisi Bölümü, Siirt
2 Bornova Zirai Mücadele Araştırma Enstitüsü, Bornova
3 Siirt Üniversitesi, Ziraat Fakültesi, Tarla Bitkileri Bölümü, Siirt
DOI : 10.21566/tarbitderg.369928 - Medicinal and aromatic plants have been used in many fields such as alternative medicine, industry, cosmetics etc. since ancient times. Nowadays, demand for medicinal plants has increased due to the side effects of synthetic and chemical drugs on human health. Turkey is known as origin of many plants, and has great genetic diversity and endemism because of its geographical position. Turkey is one of the most important medicinal and aromatic plant trader countries of the World. However, despite the high export potential of medicinal plants in Turkey, the desired level has not been reached yet. The amount of exported medicinal and aromatic plants has increased 46% (from 33.6 tons to 49.1 tons) from 2012 to 2016, value of exported medicinal and aromatic plants increased 58% (from 100 million USD to 158 million USD) from 2012 to 2016. While amount of imported medicinal and aromatic plants in Turkey were 16.9 tons in 2012, it increased by 50% in 2016 and reached 25.5 tons. The value of imported medicinal plants, which had been 25 million USD in 2012, increased by 161% and reached 41 million USD in 2016. The medicinal and aromatic plants most exported from Turkey in 2016 were oregano, bay leaf, cumin, and anise. When imports of Turkey`s medicinal plants in 2016 were considered, black cumin, black pepper and ginger were in the top three ranks. In this study, production, amount and value of exports and imports of some essential medicinal and aromatic plants were examined with regard to the selected years and some suggestions were given to increase the export of these medicinal and aromatic plants. Keywords : Medicinal and aromatic plants, marketing, Turkey