28.09.2019 Mersin
Organized by the Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Turkey Agriculture Policy and Future Conference was held with the participation of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu.
In
his speech at the conference, TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu expressed his
happiness for being in Mersin, the pearl of the Mediterranean, a beautiful city
of the world and said, “Because there is dynamism, motion and abundance in
Mersin. The beauty of the Mediterranean Sea, the glory of the Taurus Mountains
and the fertility of the land have always come together here. Mersin; city of
agriculture, tourism, industry, logistics and education. Mersin is a city that
has managed to provide foreign trade surplus. Mersin Port is the second largest
port in Turkey. Mersin is also a very important agricultural center. Turkey's
most fertile region is here.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
said that everything grows in Mersin and said, “You are the citrus capital. You
are the first in fruit production. You are third in vegetable production. Mersin
is also the leader in bananas, mandarins, lemons, oranges, strawberries and
many other products. That's why Mersin is the star as well as the center of
agriculture in Turkey. Mersin is the city which teaches how to monetize agriculture
and agricultural production to Turkey.”
- “Whoever feeds the world will be a
leading country”
Emphasizing
that agriculture is an area that should never be neglected, Hisarcıklıoğlu
continued: “Why? First, the world's population increases every year. The global
population increases each year by the equivalent of Turkey’s population.
Second, the middle class is constantly growing in the world. The middle class
consumes more and spends more. Every year, the middle class increases in
population equivalent to times that of Turkey’s population. Thirdly, 2 billion
people live in our surrounding region. It imports 500 billion USD of food,
agricultural and livestock products. This is a great opportunity. We can feed the
whole region. So we gain both money and strategic power.”
Stating
that, “Whoever feeds the world would will be a leading country, “Hisarcıklıoğlu
stressed that they cannot neglect agriculture for these reasons.
Pointing
out that the technological revolution in the world has reached agriculture,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “They develop products from vegetable proteins that can
replace meat as we know it. Chicken, sheep and calf meats. There are products
to replace what you want. One of them, a new company called Beyond Meat, is a
10-year old start-up set up in the US. It was recently offered to the public. It
saw so much demand that its value has reached 9 billion USD. Does anyone know
what the market value of our biggest company is, never mind agriculture or
food? That's also 9 billion USD. This is just one of the new companies emerging
in this field. And it is not just in the United States; India in recent months
has established a research institute to develop clean meat technology. In the
laboratory, they aim to produce clean meat from animal cells, not plant-based.
This is how a structural solution addresses a structural problem. So why is
India moving to clean meat? Because, consumption and eating habits are changing
rapidly and growing; there are 1.3 billion Indians. Meat and milk prices need
to be accessible to Indians and increased consumption needs to be met. Thanks
to these new technologies, the need for soil is reduced by 90% and water is
reduced by 70%. When technology produces meat substitutes to replace meat,
there is no need to increase the number of animals fed for meat.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
said that mankind has stopped hunting for food and perhaps in the future, there
will be no need to slaughter animals.
Pointing
out that this is the true test of Turkey's agriculture and livestock, Hisarcıklıoğlu
said, “How we transform our traditional sectors, agriculture and industrial
policy is a fundamental problem for the next 10 years. We need to focus on this
as soon as possible. So how do we stand at the moment? Our country ranks 1st
in Europe and 7th in the world in agricultural production. We have
384 billion USD of vegetable and animal production. Our agriculture and
livestock sector exports 18 billion USD and imports 13 billion USD. In other
words, it is one of the rare sectors which provides foreign trade surplus. In
addition, we are able to import and process raw materials and export them so
that the added value remains in our country. For example, we imported 54
million tons of wheat, worth 15 billion USD between 2002-2018. But in contrast,
we exported 68 million tons of finished products worth 27 billion USD. We are
the first in Europe for small cage animals. For cattle, we are second after
France. These are areas in which we are good.”
- We relayed the problems to the
Minister before the Agriculture and Forest Council
Stating
that they are aware of the fact that they are far behind their potential in
agriculture and animal husbandry, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In the evening, we met
with Mr. Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, in Ankara. We
have relayed to him your problems and proposals put together before the 3rd
Agriculture and Forestry Council. The first was the need to move from a model
in which you sell what you grow to growing what you will sell instead. Second,
in order to reduce our input costs in agriculture and animal husbandry, we must
switch to the unified production model. Contract production model should be
expanded. The idle state treasury and individual lands should be rented through
land leases and brought into production. The economy of scale should be
introduced. Now, if you want to survive in this era, you must produce a lot, buy
a lot and sell a lot. One way to achieve this is cooperatives. There are
already good examples in this area. Thirdly, the producers need a new financing
model, as long as the crop will turn from sowing into cash. Agricultural subsidies
should be determined before planting time and paid on time. Fourth, a new
social security system is needed to meet the labor force needs in the sector.
Fifth, we should redesign animal husbandry according to the conditions and
characteristics of our country. We should establish Organized Livestock
Regions, for instance, raw material production in Eastern Anatolia, milk livestock
in the Aegean and Mediterranean, animal husbandry in Central Anatolia.”
- Licensed warehousing and Product Specialized
Exchanges
Hisarcıklıoğlu
touched on what TOBB is doing for the agriculture-livestock market: “Our commodity
exchanges are regulating the agriculture-livestock market. The products are
analyzed in accredited laboratories in our exchanges. Prices of products are
determined in the electronic sales halls in our exchanges with the
participation of buyers and sellers. We offer modern commodity exchange
services with our accredited laboratories, electronic sales halls, licensed
warehouses. Today, our commodity exchanges have become an example to the world.
We pass on our experiences in Commodity Exchanges to 57 Islamic countries and
Turkic Republics.
Recently,
we have taken important steps to further develop the agriculture and livestock
market. We have made licensed warehouses a reality. The manufacturer now brings
its products to the licensed warehouse. First the product is analyzed in the
laboratory, then put into the warehouse. He uses the electronic product deed
(ELUS) in return for access to finance and uses it as collateral. For further
development of licensed warehousing, we provided investment, rent, logistics
and analysis support from the government. In addition, we enabled the tax
exemption of ELUSs to be extended until 2023. The licensed warehouse volume
exceeded 4.2 million tons.
It
was the dream of Turkish agriculture for 50 years. We established the Product Specialized
Exchanges. With the Specialized Exchanges, prices of agricultural and livestock
products will be determined in our country. The basis of the Product Exchange
is our licensed warehouses. You will be able to buy and sell the product stocks
you have purchased from the licensed warehouse at the Product Exchange. Just
like Exchange İstanbul. This is the commodity exchange.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that they have experienced many crises and turmoil in the last 25 years,
both internal and external, “By acting in unity and solidarity, we overcame
many obstacles. Let's keep this in mind. Disagreements are not solved by
fighting. They are solved through dialogue with common purpose. When everyone
stands together, Allah graces us with grace and blessings. As long as we don't alienate
each other. We need to transform our differences into wealth. Nobody can defeat
us when we're all together. All we want from the government is equal conditions
with our competitors. We'll take care of the rest.”