As the weather was hotter than usual, the rose harvest period arrived 20 days earlier in Isparta, Turkey, a city located on southwestern Turkey and very well-known for rose production. The harvest season will continue for another month and will end with the Rose Festival held during the Ramadan celebrations.
Majority of the roses from the area is used in production of rose oil and Isparta produces 65% of the world’s rose oil production.
Huseyin Asan, a rose grower in the city: “I have been a rose grower all my life. It is a beautiful but also a difficult profession. It is always a learning process to increase your productivity. It also required a lot of manual labor and in this area, we lack enough workers. Roses always need to be kept clean and all the weed around it needs to be removed regularly. A lot of additional manual works are needed during the production.
The rose from this area is very valuable as it is grown at higher altitude. In some areas, we grow at 1,500 meter altitude. We also grow it without water so its water and oil is of higher quality. Normally we receive the same amount of rose oil and water from 2.5 tons of product that other growers receive from 4 tons.
We did not realize that the rose was such a valuable product in the past. Now it even brings tourists to the area. We used to throw away a lot of roses before but now our local mayor is helping us to market our products. The fact that our mayor is a rose grower himself is a tremendous boost for our industry.”
Guneykent Town Mayor Fahreddin Gozgun: “Right now we have an amazing view where green meets pink. It feels like a valley of perfumes walking around in the town. This town is where everybody is involved with the rose business. It is the main driver of the local economy here. The rose from here is not only sold as a flower but also used in various products such as rose oil, rose water, rose jam and as raw material in numerous cosmetic products.
The tourists who come to this area also spend a day filled with roses everywhere. We will have the Rose Festival in mid-June. It will be a festival where we will all harvest roses and have specific rose related activities for visitors.”
An employee in a rose grower from the area, Emine Akalin: “We always come very early to the field, it is a very difficult job but it is also enjoyable working with roses. People can come and experience how it is working in the field if they wish to do so.”
Source: Haberturk