The harvest of the award-winning Butko olive has begun in Artvin.

The harvest season for the Butko Olive, which is grown in Yusufeli district of Artvin and has won the "Superior Taste Award" internationally, has begun for 2025-2026. Artvin Governor Dr. Turan Ergün participated in the first harvest, and at the harvest event held in Demirkent village, participants collected olives one by one from the branches by climbing up the olive trees using a ladder, employing the region-specific collection method. Winning the "Superior Taste Award" at the International Olive Oil Fair held in Beijing, China in 2006, the Butko Olive, thanks to the microclimate feature of the Çoruh Valley, is in high demand from different regions of Turkey. In the area, which covers approximately 880 decares and has 25 thousand olive trees, the trees range in height from 8 to 12 meters. Producers use ladders to pick olives from the tall trees, and the collected olives are then separated for table use and oil production. "An unusual product in the Black Sea, but Artvin's climate ...