26.11.2024 Ankara

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) Extended Commodity Exchanges Council Meeting was held at TOBB Twin Towers with the participation of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı and council members.

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the agriculture and livestock sectors are important and strategic. Stating that agriculture and animal husbandry should never be neglected, Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that they are carrying out projects and studies to develop the sector.

Stating that they initiated the establishment process of licensed warehouses, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We established the first warehouses in Türkiye and then pioneered the licensed warehouse investments of our commodity exchanges and the private sector. Thus, in addition to safe and healthy storage, we facilitated producers’ access to finance. We also enabled the industrialists to access raw materials more easily. Then we broke new ground again. With the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, we launched TÜRİB, the first and only product specialized commodity exchange of our country. Thus, we brought the commodity exchange in agricultural and livestock products to our country.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they conveyed the opinions, suggestions and problems coming from the field regarding the sector to the relevant offices and that they are looking for solutions, “We see that the high increases in input costs such as fuel, fertilizer and feed cause problems in the sector. Measures are needed in these matters. In particular, the support provided should be at least at the level of the increase in input costs.”

Stating that commodity exchanges are the center of agricultural product trade, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that it was determined that the first commodity exchange in the world started operating in the ancient city of Aizonai in Kütahya-Çavdarhisar in the 4^th century.

Stating that the leading companies of the sectors are also within the sector assemblies, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that solutions to problems are sought by meeting at the same table with public institutions.

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that very useful works have been carried out to address the issue of “water”, which is one of the priority agenda items of countries all over the world, at a high level in Türkiye, and noted the following:

“Our Ministry opened the Draft Water Efficiency Regulation, which is an important work for the country, for opinion in June. We have also conveyed the opinions of our chambers and sector councils to the Ministry. In order to successfully reach water efficiency targets, investments for the installation of drip irrigation, treatment and similar systems require high fixed capital investments. In order to financially support these investments, it is critical that incentive and grant support programs are made available to the private sector through the Ministry. Another critical issue is to explain water efficiency practices and the support/incentive mechanisms offered throughout the country.”

Stating that within the scope of the protocol to be signed with the Ministry, they plan to spread awareness in the field of “water efficiency” all over Türkiye, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “With the protocol, we will organize various awareness-raising and informative activities with our Ministry, chambers/exchanges and sector councils. We will comprehensively discuss the topic of water efficiency and the work that can be done. We would like to express our thanks to Mr. Minister for implementing this important work.”

- Minister Yumaklı

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı stated that the development and competitiveness of the sector depends on many factors and dynamics.

Yumaklı stated that the representatives of the sector planted, harvested, processed and branded with great effort in 81 provinces, and said that as the Ministry, they provided the support they could to the producers in this process and mobilized all opportunities for the development of the sector.

Yumaklı stated that the country’s agriculture is growing day by day with the sweat and labor of farmers and continued as follows: “We have approached the agricultural sector strategically. The support transferred to the agricultural sector in the last 22 years is 1.365 trillion liras. We broke the record of our Republic’s history by increasing our crop production to 139 million tons annually.”

Stating that food supply security is a matter of national security for all countries, Yumaklı said that countries act more protectionist by considering their own resources.

Yumaklı pointed out the importance of using the country’s resources in the most efficient way and said, “In this context, we have implemented planning in plant and animal production and aquaculture. Bringing unprocessed lands into production, registering agricultural areas, expanding contract production and initiating studies on agricultural census have been revolutionary practices in agriculture.”

Reminding that they increased the number of provinces where IPARD support is provided from 42 to 81, Yumaklı said: “We want the transformation of the products produced into value-added much faster. IPARD I and II programs have been very successful, and we have started the call for IPARD III. I would like to share with you that the evaluation process for the food processing and marketing sectors within the scope of the first application call announcement in IPARD III has been completed. In this sense, 39 projects were entitled to receive 635 million TL grant support. When the investment process of the projects is completed, we estimate that their contribution to the country’s economy will reach 1.3 billion liras.”

Minister Yumaklı stated that the sufficiency rate for red meat is 95 percent and said: “In order to meet the remaining 5 percent with domestic means, we are launching the mobilization for the production of fattening calves. In this context, we have started breeding beef cattle in our Iğdır and Ceylanpınar agricultural holdings. Next month, our Iğdır enterprise will start operating at full capacity. We expect the Ceylanpınar enterprise to operate at full capacity until June 2025. Our first goal in these two enterprises is to reach a capacity of 70,000. For this purpose, we will add the females born from breeding animals to our breeding herd. We will also fatten the males and utilize them in the regulation activities of the Meat and Milk Institution during the slaughter period. We attach importance to the increase of such enterprises. It is important for our country that you establish 100, 500 or 1000 breeding breed enterprises within your means. We would be pleased if such enterprises are established by TOBB member entrepreneurs. In this regard, as the Ministry, we have put not only our hands but also our bodies under this work. In this context, I have also instructed my team to carry out the necessary support work, and they will follow up.”

Following the opening speeches, the Cooperation Protocol for Water Efficiency Studies in Industry was signed by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı.