Heirloom Seeds Are Spreading from Muğla Across Turkey
The Muğla Metropolitan Municipality continues to preserve heirloom seeds and promote their use nationwide through the Local Seed Center, which it established to protect local agricultural heritage and pass it on to future generations.
This article was translated automatically from Turkish. Türkçe orijinal ›
Established under the slogan “Local Seeds, National Strength,” the Local Seed Center continues its operations as one of Turkey’s most comprehensive local seed centers.
To date, 976 varieties of heirloom seeds have been registered at the center. The extensive inventory, which includes not only vegetable seeds but also forest seeds, forage crops, and medicinal and aromatic plant seeds, makes a significant contribution to Turkey’s biological diversity.
The seeds registered at the Local Seed Center are analyzed in a laboratory setting after verification plantings are completed and are distributed free of charge to all 81 provinces every February. To date, the center has brought a total of 22 million local seeds into the soil across all 81 provinces of Turkey.
3 MILLION SEEDS TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO PRODUCERS IN 81 PROVINCES
Continuing its efforts to promote heirloom seeds, the Muğla Metropolitan Municipality aims to distribute approximately 3 million local seeds from 108 varieties to producers by February 2, 2026.
Ahmet Aras, Mayor of Muğla Metropolitan Municipality and President of the Aegean Coastal Municipalities Union, emphasized that the preservation of local seeds is not only an agricultural responsibility but also a cultural and ecological one, and made the following remarks: “Local seeds are the memory of these lands. Protecting our ancestral seeds means safeguarding the independence of our farmers, ensuring access to healthy food, and ensuring agricultural sustainability. As the Muğla Metropolitan Municipality, through our Local Seed Center, we are not only distributing seeds but also presenting a vision for agriculture that strengthens local production, is grounded in science, and extends across the entire country. We are determined to continue protecting and multiplying our heirloom seeds and bringing them to the soil across every corner of Turkey.”
