Expressing that agricultural production is one of the sectors that provide significant added value to the country in terms of its contribution to employment, the raw material it provides to the industry and food supply security, Kirişci said, “For this reason, the development of our rural areas is important in terms of ensuring the economic, social and environmental sustainable development of our country. The Ministry As we, we take these points into consideration when analyzing the current situation of the agricultural sector and creating sustainable policies for the future.” used the phrases.
Noting that global climate change, Kovid-19 epidemic, wars and natural disasters increase the importance of food day by day, Kirişci said that apart from these risks, population growth, urbanization rate, number of tourists coming to the country, change in consumption habits, increase in income level, mass consumption. He stated that issues such as the proliferation of places, migrations, and the development of air, land and sea transportation increase the demand for food day by day.
Stating that food supply security is on their agenda as an issue as important as the national defense industry, Kirişci made the following assessment:
“These risks have led the world to implement protectionist policies in agricultural production more than ever. In other words, regardless of the level of development of the countries, agricultural production has become an irreplaceable and vital sector for the world. Just as we have in the last 20 years. Now we are planning our agricultural policies in this direction. We know that we cannot build a strong and great Turkey without being strong and self-sufficient in agriculture. With this perspective, we will continue to develop policies that will use our production resources in a sustainable way. Turkey is stronger these days when we open the doors of the Century We are working harder than ever for an agricultural sector and we are making moves that will strengthen the sector.”
“10 projects will strengthen the infrastructure of agricultural production”
Reminding that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced 10 new good news to farmers with the “Rural Transformation Project” in this regard, Kirişci said that with the implementation of these projects, the Ministry will strengthen the agricultural production infrastructure by protecting the producers and protecting the consumers.
Minister Kirişci also shared information on the details of 10 gospels.
Explaining that the first project will be related to the Black Sea natural gas commissioned by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 20, Minister Kirişci said:
“Extracting this gas was a project we thought about years ago. If we believe and trust, we will get the results of what we believe in. Unfortunately, we could not realize this even though there are natural gas reserves around this country. These exploration and drilling activities, which started 46 years ago, thank God, as a very positive signal to us 2 years ago. A resource that has natural gas as of today and will meet our natural gas needs for 35 years with this reserve is about to be integrated into our national line. We will be using it as an energy source.
Our first project is to start the production of urea fertilizer, which is the biggest input of production, with Black Sea gas in Zonguldak. Black Sea gas has become a project that we are proud of as the world’s shortest offshore field development project from the first discovery to production. In our country, an average of 6 million tons of fertilizer is consumed annually and its cost is approximately 60 billion liras at today’s prices. Fertilizer factories with a capacity of 1 million 855 thousand tons will be established in the Filyos Industrial Zone with the natural gas coming out of the Black Sea. With this investment, which has a fixed investment of TL 31.5 billion and will be completed in 4 years, one third of the country’s fertilizer consumption will be met, and foreign dependency in the largest agricultural input will be significantly reduced.
Kirişci informed that 581 thousand tons of urea, 660 thousand tons of calcium ammonium nitrate, 330 thousand tons of DAP, 224 thousand tons of ammonium sulfate and 60 thousand tons of potassium nitrate fertilizer will be produced in the established fertilizer factories. He said that they foresee the cost of the fertilizer to be produced in the fertilizer factories to be over 19 billion liras.
Kirişci stated that the second project is about contract production and that they will expand production with this method.
Expressing that they will guarantee the producer’s income, Kirişci said, “With the spread of contract production, we will make a significant contribution to planning in agricultural production. Our farmers will not have marketing problems during the harvest period. Our industrialists, who need agricultural raw materials, will have access to raw materials in the quantity and quality they want. and we will stabilize the food markets.” he said.
The number of Specialized Agricultural OIZs will be increased
Explaining that increasing greenhouse investments is the third project, Kirişci said that they will increase their greenhouse investment support, especially in the geothermal organized industrial zone (OSB).
Stressing that they will expand the agriculture-based specialized OIZs (TDIOSB), which are the most important pillars of urban agriculture practices, in order to develop the “on-site production – on-site consumption” understanding, Kirişci continued as follows:
“We are in the 1st place in Europe and 7th in the world in terms of geothermal energy potential. I would like to state that proudly. We are the world leader in geothermal greenhouse cultivation. As of today, 57 TDIOSBs, as we use our geothermal resources, also use our renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and biomass. In this context, in the next 5 years, we will increase the number of TDIOSB to 100, produce an additional 5 million tons of vegetables and create on-site employment for 200 thousand people. Thus, we will reduce energy costs significantly while protecting our environment with clean energy. We will produce products cheaply.”
Noting that the irrigation issue is the 4th project, Kirişci drew attention to the fact that they have increased the productivity in agriculture with the efforts to strengthen the pressurized irrigation infrastructure.
Pointing out that 77 percent of the water used in the country is spent in agricultural irrigation, Kirişci said:
“As a result of global climate change, it is estimated that there will be a water deficit of 78 percent in irrigated agricultural lands by 2030. Based on this fact, we have accelerated our efforts to use our water assets efficiently. The modernization of the old irrigation systems and the transition to the piped system in the new irrigation systems are now We will increase the water savings from 32 percent to 45-50 percent. Thus, 6 billion cubic meters of water will be saved. With this water that can be saved, 11 million additional areas can be irrigated and 990 thousand people can be employed by providing a net agricultural income increase of 7 billion liras. In addition, our producers’ individual pressurized We will continue to provide 50 percent grant support to irrigation systems.”
Livestock will be developed with 3 projects
Kirişci emphasized that they will implement 3 effective projects in order to improve the country’s animal husbandry, to make the country one of the world’s important breeding animal production centers and to ensure Turkey’s food supply security in red meat and milk.
Reminding that the 5th, 6th and 7th projects of the 10 gospels announced in this context are aimed at improving animal husbandry, Kirişci used the following expressions:
“Besides, within the scope of these projects, we will implement positive discrimination for the development of the livestock sector in the region, since 17 percent of our animal stock is in the provinces affected by the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquake we experienced on February 6th. With our project, we provide cattle and livestock breeding support to family-type businesses. We guarantee at least 1 minimum wage to each household. We also entered a new stage in our ‘domestic and national production’ move in agriculture with contracted livestock. “We offer absolute profitability to our producers. We aim at price stability and market regulation in red meat with contracted livestock breeding. With contracted livestock breeding, we want our livestock farmers to earn and be rewarded for their efforts. With our 7th project, we provide zero-interest loans to our farmers in the disaster area.”
Kirişci stated that other projects will provide solutions to the problems experienced in agricultural production by strengthening rural development and stated that the countryside should be turned into a center of attraction.
For this reason, Kirişci underlined that revitalizing the economies of rural areas and increasing productivity in agriculture, livestock and other sectors have important benefits in terms of ensuring food security and the health of the population, and said:
“Also, rural development is an important argument in reducing rural migration by increasing the quality of life of people in rural areas. In this regard, some important steps had to be taken for rural development and making the countryside a center of attraction. These include improving rural services and increasing access, rural areas “We will develop the infrastructure, make the necessary investments and develop human resources. In this direction, we will make the countryside a center of attraction by spreading the village house model, which we have planned and put into practice in order to make rural areas attractive in the earthquake region. Thus, we will increase the interest of young people and women in the countryside.”
Minister Kirişci gave the following information about the 8th, 9th and 10th projects:
“With our 8th project, we are presenting the smart village houses model with its advanced infrastructure. We will build 143,261 village houses in the rural areas affected by the earthquake. On April 22, we delivered the village houses to our citizens in our villages in Kahramanmaraş’s Türkoğlu and Gaziantep Nurdağı districts.
With our 9th project, we offer the opportunity to own a ‘smart village house’ on the terms of our ‘My First Home Campaign’.
With our 10th project, we support our farmer who wants to transform his house into a ‘smart village house’. I wish the 10 golden gospels, each of which I believe will make great contributions to our agriculture and our country, to be beneficial and auspicious for our industry.”
