✻Forecast FarmClimate · Cultivation · Consequence
Subtropical tree fruit · Multiple fruit

Fig

Ficus carica · Moraceae

Fig is a warm-temperate shrub that grows best in the 16–26°C range with 700–1500 mm of rain, cropping over a 120–300-day season. Today it is grown mostly in Türkiye, Egypt and Algeria.

Optimal temp
16–26 °C
Annual rain
700–1500 mm
Max altitude
1,200 m
Cold limit
4°C
Growing cycle
120–300 d
Climate-fit land
21 % world

How it grows

Fig
Photo: Woodlot (talk) 13:01, 31 May 2010 (UTC) · CC BY 3.0
Fig
Photo: Maahmaah · CC BY-SA 3.0
🌳 On a tree

Fig grows on a tree — the fruit ripens above the ground, up in the canopy.

What it’s worth to grow

$1.35 / kg at the farm gate
$$$$$
High-value
pricier than 71% of all crops · #8 of 15 temperate fruit
Ranked against similar crops — Temperate fruit
Blueberry$5.27/kg
Raspberry$4.68/kg
Blackberry$4.68/kg
Strawberry$2.58/kg
Sweet Cherry$2.46/kg
Cranberry$1.54/kg
Kiwifruit$1.51/kg
Fig ◀$1.35/kg
Apricot$1.20/kg
Peach$0.90/kg

Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 181 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.

Where Earth's climate suits fig

Global climatic suitability map for Fig
marginal suitable good excellent unsuitable land
21% of world land

Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).

Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it

Actual production · FAOSTAT 2024
World harvest 1.3M t/yr
Türkiye375k t
Egypt217k t
Algeria115k t
Morocco106k t
Iran75k t
Afghanistan60k t
Spain55k t
Syria34k t
Latest reported year. Source: FAO FAOSTAT.
Climatic fit · computed
Where the climate suits it best
Russia
United States of America
China
Canada
Argentina
Australia
Turkey
Ukraine
Ranked by suitable land area (EcoCrop×AgroClim). Climate permits far more than is farmed — economics and history decide the rest.

The climate where it grows

Türkiye🌧 34% rain · dry
12°C · 699 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Algeria🌧 87% rain · near normal
17°C · 741 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Morocco🌧 129% rain · wet
17°C · 658 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Iran🌧 50% rain · dry
14°C · 674 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND

— mean monthly temperature   ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.

Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop

Temperatureoptimum 16–26°C · tolerates 4–38°C
-5°C45°C
Annual rainfalloptimum 700–1500 mm · tolerates 300–2700 mm
0 mm4500 mm
Soil pHoptimum 4.3–8.6 · tolerates 4.3–8.6
3.09.0

Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±53° · soil pH 4.3–8.6.

Growing calendar & hazards

Season

An annual cycle of roughly 120–300 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.

What threatens the crop
  • Hard freeze. Tolerant of chill but killed once temperatures fall below about -1°C.
  • Drought. Relatively drought-hardy, but a failed rainy season still cuts yield sharply where irrigation is absent.

Related crops