Present Situation, Problems and Suggested Solutions of Viticulture in Van Province

Abstract

Van province has micro-climate conditions although it is located in the Eastern Anatolian Region. Despite its high altitude, this feature of region allows many fruit species to grow. Vine is also one of the fruit species that adapts to ecological conditions of the region. Viticulture, an important income source for local people in the past, has quickly begun to lose its importance of thousand years. The current vineyard area and production of Van province is at low level. The majority of available vineyards is very old, unproductive and destroyed. In addition, it has been observed that vineyard areas have been increasingly reduced due to continuous destroy. The most important reasons of under developing of Van province’s viticulture are: the destroyed vineyards are not re-established, modern viticulture techniques are not known, suitable standard varieties are not determined, vineyards are used as settlement areas, and it has lower productivity and income. The existing problems of Van province’s Viticulture can be solved with the usage of technical and cultural practices of modern viticulture. Determination of region’s vineyard areas and production targets are important for the development of viticulture. Therefore, all research and training studies done for development of vineyard in the region where unemployment and from rural to cities immigration are available, should be supported. In this study, problems of Van province’s viticulture have been examined and some solutions have been suggested. In addition, the climatic conditions of the region have been evaluated in terms of viticulture.