Due to the warm weather, field mice have become the most important threat to winter wheat, barley cultivated fields and pasture areas. According to the December 2023 Phenological Evaluation Report of the Turkish Grain Board (TMO), December was the warmest in the last 53 years. If the vole is not combated, its damage can reach up to 100 per cent.
December 2023 went down in history as the hottest month of the last 53 years. Due to the warm weather, there was a significant increase in the field mouse population. Turkish Grain Board warned producers against field mouse damage.
If no precautions are taken, mice can cause a huge damage
General climatic conditions, such as temperatures above the long-term average, seem to have caused a significant increase in the vole population. Field mice cause damage by eating, gnawing, cutting and polluting the green parts, seeds and fruits of cultivated plants and meadow-pasture plants. When the food in the area where they feed is exhausted, they move to other areas and continue their damage. Field mice are a pest that significantly threatens the yield and quality of agricultural production throughout the country and their degree of damage can reach up to 100% depending on the population density. In this respect, our producers should start the struggle in the areas where the population is high, taking into account the environment and other living things and taking the necessary precautions. Otherwise, irreparable damages may be encountered in the fields.
Increase in wheat and barley sowing, decrease in corn, cotton and sunflower
Winter cereal sowing is almost completed in Marmara, Aegean, Southeastern and Central Anatolia regions and completed in other regions (Black Sea, Mediterranean and Eastern Anatolia). As of the end of December, it is 90 percent throughout the country (95 percent last year). It was determined that wheat and barley plantings throughout the country were above last year (2% increase). Especially last year, there is a transition from corn, cotton, sunflower, poppy lands to wheat and barley. The final situation will become clearer with the completion of summer cereals (especially barley) plantings in March and April.
Transition from red lentils to wheat
In Türkiye, 95% of the red lentil cultivations are made in the Southeastern Anatolia Region. Plantings started in the third week of November and were completed in the second week of January. It was observed that plant emergence was realized to a great extent and the dormancy effect was not observed. It is predicted that plant physiological development is at the desired level, and with the increase in seasonal temperatures in the coming days, plant root development and vegetative development will be more positive.
In red lentil plantings, in proportion to the increase in price and demand, it was observed that there was a 15% shift to cereals (especially wheat) in Diyarbakır, a 5% shift to cereals (especially wheat) in Batman, 10% shift from barley to red lentil in Şanlıurfa, and in other regions, plantings were at last year’s levels.