MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Mêrdin– Olive harvest season begins in October in the Derik district of Mardin province. The district is known for its olive groves but this year the owners of the olive groves complain about the lower olive yield drought and environmental factors compared to previous years.

Zübeyde Kaya is the owner of one of the olive groves in the district. They wake up early in the morning to work in their olive grove. “We begin to harvest the olives at the beginning of October. We first place tarps under the tree or trees. Men climb up the olive trees and dislodge the olives by using a stick. And then we gather the olives from the tarp and put them in sacks. Then we split the green olives. We consume them in the morning or use them to make olive oil.”

“Olives of Derik are delicious”

Zübeyde Kaya has gathered olive since her childhood. “If we have a high yield, we sell olives. But we have low yields, we keep them for ourselves. We make olive oil and then sell it. Olives of Derik are delicious. That’s why people know Derik with its olives,” Zübeyde Kaya told us.

“Olive yield is lower than expected”

“Olive yield is lower than expected due to the drought,” Zübeyde Kaya said, “We get tired but we don’t receive recompense for our work. Olive yield is lower than before. There are some olives but they are small and wrinkled due to the shortage of rain.”