İtobiad (Jul 2014)

Sesame as an Important Oil Plant With Decreasing Production

  • Güven Şahin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.85477
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 2
pp. 404 – 433

Abstract

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Sesame has a long-standing history and a wide range of usage field because of the reason that it’s the first oil seed plant cultivated in the world. This plant -is being used by people for over 5000 years- has a great importance in Turkish culture as well. Its seeds contain 50 – 60 % oil which has an high quality, moreover one of its most common usage areas is tahini and tahini halva production. In addition to that, sesame which is consumed as a spice is the only condiment that makes the Turkish bagel (simit) world famous. Despite all of these features, sesame production in Turkey in recent years has demonstrated a serious setback. In the 1990s in excess of 30.000 tons of our sesame production has dropped to 16.221 tons by 2012. Sesame production in our many province either completely abandoned or declined very significantly. Our country's growing deficit are tried to close by imports whereas even the half of annual needs of our country cannot provided. In this study, sesame which has been configuring a significant share for itself around agricultural products, is considered in the scope of agricultural geography and some recommendations are made for relevant topics. Key words: Sesame, Sesamum indicum L., Susam agriculture, Oil plant, Sesame oil, Agricultural geography, Agricultural economics

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