The project was launched in 2021 within the scope of TEMA Foundation's Fund for the Protection of Agricultural Soils and Biodiversity. The project aims to expand the cultivation of leguminous fodder crops and cover crops in order to increase the soil organic matter and nitrogen content between olive rows in gardens that are suitable in terms of garden establishment with the sample application studies to be carried out between 2021-2023. The study will be carried out in Akhisar district as a sample application.
The project will be carried out in 10 olive orchards in at least 5 villages with intensive olive cultivation in Akhisar district. In the project, it is aimed to increase the amount of organic matter in the soil, prevent erosion between the rows, and fix (bind) the nitrogen of the air to the soil by cultivating leguminous forage crops between the olive rows. Thus, it is aimed to protect the soil against erosion, to improve the soil with the increase in the amount of organic matter, to increase the water retention capacity, to increase the biological activity in the soil, to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers by fixing the nitrogen of the air to the soil, to use organomineral fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers when needed, and to use some of the fodder plants as roughage for the producers engaged in animal husbandry, if desired, and thus to reduce the roughage costs of the producers. As an additional activity, practices will be carried out on the dissemination of biotechnical control methods in the fight against olive fly.
In the first year of the project in 2021, determination of the gardens, stakeholder interviews, preparation of producer training contents, producer trainings, pre-application soil analysis of the selected sample application gardens, planting practices during the planting period of forage crops to be grown for winter and organomineral fertilizer applications will be carried out.
In the project carried out in cooperation with Akhisar District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry and Akhisar Chamber of Agriculture, stakeholder meetings with the relevant institutions and the villages to be implemented, visits to the villages where the application gardens will be selected, interviews with producers and producer trainings content development studies were carried out. As of the end of August 2021, the brochure "Green Fertilization with Cover Crop Cultivation in Olive Groves" was prepared, a training and project information meeting was held with the participation of approximately 50 producers in Dereköy and Ballıca Villages, and 10 olive orchards where sample applications will be made were determined.
