TURKISH AGRI.NEWS

Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, within the scope of the 5th Gastromasa Conference, hosted 20 world renowned chef through the inspiring journey in Turkey. Chefs admired the city's food, art, culture and history. Turkey, adopted in the gastronomic network first UNESCO city of Gaziantep, the owner-chef in the field of gastronomy in the world were the guests. Chefs who visited Gaziantep examined baklava making and got information about local dishes and products. Star chefs who visited Zeugma Mosaic Museum, Coppersmiths Bazaar, along with click-through hammer sounds saw the operations made to the copper closely. Tasting the spices unique to Antep, the chefs showed great interest in Gaziantep's history, culture, art and local delicacies. Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Latif Karadağ met with famous chefs in the organized food programme and said that Gaziantep is a tourism and production city with its 5 ancient cities, industry, agriculture and now gast...

Ankara (Capital city of Turkey) Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Bülent Korkmaz said, "Both the audits we made in the enterprises and as a result of the negative results of the samples taken to a thousand enterprises, 6 million TL administrative fine was applied." The product-based food inspections initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in 81 provinces continued with meat and chicken doner and some restaurants. In Ankara, Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Bülent Korkmaz noted that samples taken from the products sent to laboratories for examination. During the inspection, which gives great importance to hygiene, criminal sanctions will be applied to the remaining businesses not to be able to pass over identified standards. Bülent Korkmaz, the Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry in Ankara made a statement on the subject, recalling that the 6th day of the inspection program, "Today, mainly restaurant-style food ...

Afghanistan has inked $2.2 billion worth of contracts with China for exporting pine nuts in the next five years, an official said on Monday. Hashmatullah Ghafoori, deputy minister for irrigation and natural resources, told a news conference in Kabul that the contracts have been inked with different Chinese firms for the eventual export of 62,000 tons of pine-nuts. He added this would fetch a much-needed $2.2 billion to Afghan farmers and traders in the said period. Ghafoori also said that additional contracts, worth $9 million, have been inked for the export of pistachio, almond and walnuts. As per the deal, the consignments of these products would be transported via land-route from Afghanistan through the Central Asian states to China. Under President Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank economist, Afghanistan is pursuing a policy of turning the landlocked country into a hub for transition of goods as well as ideas in the region. Beijing renders full support to Afghanistan in reinvigora...

Global food production should increase 50 percent to meet the need of the rising population, said Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli. Pakdemirli was speaking at the 35th Ministerial Meeting of the Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC). "I believe that this meeting will raise awareness about the development of sustainable food systems,” Pakdemirli said, according to a statement from the ministry on late Wednesday. Noting that 820 million people suffer from hunger in the world, he said food and agricultural production has become an important issue on the international agenda. "All stakeholders in agriculture, forestry and fisheries should be involved," the minister said, adding: "In this context, we have prepared a Country Report which aims to reveal the current situation in Turkey's sustainable food system and activities related to the promotion of these systems." T...

Our food systems today rely too heavily on a very few number of crops. Nutritious local crop species and varieties have the potential to diversify our diets and food systems. ©szefei/shutterstock.com 28/11/2019 Our food systems aren’t working as they should be. Over 820 million people are still going hungry on our planet today. At the same time, there is a worldwide obesity epidemic. Access, in terms of availability and cost, to healthy food is a major factor in both scenarios. The limited number of foods we produce, the ways in which we grow and transport it, the ways in which we distribute it, all have huge room for improvement. Changes in these systems can mean saving natural resources, cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions and having more food reach consumers, especially vulnerable groups. There are many solutions available to us. Traditional, time-proven ways of harvesting and producing food are being revisited. Cultures and respect for the value of food are being revitalized...

Press release... Putting Mediterranean and other traditional diets back on the consumer’s plate Traditional healthy diets and dietary diversity should be protected and promoted to advance our efforts towards sustainable development The Mediterranean diet implies high intakes of diverse vegetables, fruits, legumes, herbs and olive oil. Vegetables are displayed on sale at a stall at the Esquilino market in Rome, Italy. 27 November 2019, Rome - Promoting traditional healthy diets is important for advancing our efforts towards a food system that respects the environment, culture and well-being of people, which is a fundamental element of sustainable development. That was the main message at an event today organized by the Government of Italy with support from FAO aimed at deepening understanding of the Mediterranean and other traditional diets from around the world and their nutritional benefits, as well as raising awareness on how they can help achieve progress towards the Sustainable ...

Press release... Turkey is by far the world leader in the production and export of seedless raisins Turkey with 305 thousand tons of seedless grape production in the 2019/20 season and revealed that 265 thousand tons of seedless grapes as the world number one export destination. The “59. International Seedless Raisins Producer Countries Conference "was marked by Turkey's production and export figures. The raisin producing countries participating in the conference decided to make a promotional campaign in order to increase the consumption of raisins worldwide. The campaign will start in the UK in 2020.

Turkey's Agricultural Credit Cooperatives are seeking to open a grocery chain consisting of 400-500 stores across the country, the group's general manager has announced. "By opening cooperative stores all over Turkey, we will be able to present consumers with the food products we buy from farmers directly," Fahrettin Poyraz told reporters on Saturday. Poyraz stated that the goal is to open a grocery store in order not to let the customer fall victim to the excessive price hikes which have been levied by other markets. "At the moment, we want to bring quality to the market with a series of regulations against a number of malicious producers who are trying to mortgage our future for the sake of profit. This is why we want to increase the number of grocery store alternatives, starting from the metropolitan cities. But we don't plan on having a store on every street corner," Poyraz added. The group has announced that their main objective is to open some 400...

Digital solutions provider ForFarming has plans to help people easily access fresh, healthy food independent of climate conditions and has set its course for the global market now that it has inked a second investment agreement Smart agricultural startups of the future attract investors' attention. ForFarming, which develops smart agricultural solutions in greenhouse-like indoor areas without the use of pesticides, has made its second investment agreement of about TL 2.4 million. The startup, which succeeded in receiving its first seed investment through Tarvenn Ventures, is now focusing on the global smart vertical agricultural market. ForFarming develops alternative farming solutions in line with changing lifestyles, using artificial intelligence algorithms and internet of things (IoT) technology that provides instant tracking of production conditions. Having set out with the idea of vertical agriculture created by the flow of healthy living and consumption of fresh products, F...

“Our Goal is to Be in Top Five of World’s Seed Sector with 1.5 Million Tons of Certificated Seed” Turkey Seed Growers Association (TÜRKTOB) Chairman Savaş Akcan says, “Our goal is to be in top five in world’s seed sector with 1.5 million tons of certificated seed by 2023.” at “European and Balkan Countries Agricultural Journalists Forum” hosted by Growtech 19th International Greenhouse, Agricultural Technologies and Livestock Equipment Fair, in cooperation with International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and Turkish Guild of Agricultural Journalists (TGAJ) that joined by 35 agricultural journalists from 22 countries. Growtech 19th International Greenhouse, Agricultural Technologies and Livestock Equipment Fair to be held in Antalya on 27-30 November 2019 welcomed 35 agricultural journalists from 21 countries at the “European and Balkan Countries Agricultural Journalists Forum” organized in cooperation with International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) a...

The government will be backing every effort and taking firm steps to help boost agricultural and livestock production, according to President Erdoğan, who also said ensuring food safety has become a matter of national security Food safety has become a matter of national security for the country, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Thursday, stressing the danger of foreign dependency in basic agricultural products, with emphasis on the strong support the country will be providing for the agricultural and livestock industries. "Ensuring the food safety of our people has become a matter of national security for Turkey as it has for every other country," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in his address at the 3rd Turkey Agriculture and Forestry Council in the capital Ankara, underscoring that developed countries already invest extraordinary effort to ensure their food safety and future. "Foreign dependency in basic agricultural products is just as dangerous as foreign de...

Press release... World Fisheries Day: Black Sea countries team up to ensure sustainability of marine resources Since the 1960s, a series of dramatic environmental changes have occurred in the Black Sea, putting at risk the survival of living marine resources. Black Sea countries have united to tackle this grave situation and achieve sustainable fisheries in the region. On World Fisheries Day (21 November), FAO’s General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) welcomes the recent improvements in the management and conservation of marine resources in the region and celebrates Bulgaria’s 50-year anniversary of joining the GFCM. A key sector for the Black Sea economy is fisheries, which generates an annual revenue of USD 350 million, with more than 350 tonnes fished every year. To help protect fish stocks, the GFCM – the regional fisheries management organization of the FAO that has competence for all marine waters of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea – launched the BlackSea...

A record 45 million people across southern Africa face severe food shortages in the next six months, with around a quarter of them currently enduring drought-induced "crisis" food insecurity, three United Nations agencies warned on Thursday. The 16-member Southern African Development Community is in the grips of a severe drought, as climate change wreaks havoc in impoverished countries struggling to cope with extreme natural disasters, such as Cyclone Idai which devastated Mozambique earlier this year. "We've had the worst drought in 35 years in central and western areas during the growing season," said Margaret Malu, acting regional director for southern Africa at the World Food Programme (WFP). "We must meet the pressing emergency food and nutrition needs of millions of people, but also invest in building the resilience of those threatened by ever more frequent and severe droughts, floods and storms," Malu said in a statement. WFP, the Food...

In the first 10 months of this year, Turkey generated $1.6 billion in the export of fresh fruit and vegetables. According to the Eastern Black Sea Exporters Union (DKİB) data, in the January-October period of this year, 2.7 million tons of fresh fruit and vegetables were exported to 130 countries, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported Wednesday. Russia came first with $486.4 million in the export of fresh fruits and vegetables, which totaled $1.6 billion in revenue, followed by Germany with $190.8 million and Iraq with $125.6 million. 208,008 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables were exported to 41 countries from the Eastern Black Sea region in the January-October period, amounting to $119.2 million in revenue. Russia took the lead in regional exports with $94 million, followed by Georgia with $8.5 million, and Iraq with around $2 million. During this period, 143,607 tons of fruit and vegetables were exported to 27 countries from Trabzon in exchange for $103.6 million in revenue. Russi...

Production growth in biodiesel fuels derived from waste oils and some oilseeds is nearing record levels. According to Biodiesel Industry Association data, a total of 108,609 tons of biodiesel fuels were produced in Turkey in 2018. The biodiesel industry produced 78,000 tons of biodiesel fuels in the first eight months of the year, achieving an 18% rise compared to the same period last year. Last year's record is expected to be broken at the end of the year in biodiesel fuels, where oilseeds, canola and safflower in particular, and collected waste oils, are used as raw materials. Biodiesel Industry Association head Selçuk Borovalı told Anadolu Agency (AA) that pleasing developments are taking place in biodiesel production. Indicating that the production continued to rise in the eight months of the year, Borovalı said the eight-month production soared to 78,000 tons this year from 66,000 last year. "We expect 130,000 tons in production this year – which points to a recor...

Yaşar Group, which owns the leading dairy brand Pınar, has made its first overseas food investment in Abu Dhabi, becoming the first cheese processing plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Speaking at the official inauguration of the cheese processing plant established within Yaşar Group's new company HADAF Foods, Feyhan Yaşar, vice chairman of Yaşar Holding and chairman of HADAF Foods, said Thursday: "We are proud to bring our factory, which we have inaugurated in the United Arab Emirates today as our group's first overseas production investment in food and which supports sustainable development, sustainability and environmental protection, into the economy. The first phase of our investment, built on an area of 20,000 square meters, is worth approximately $30 million." According to Yaşar, when the investment reaches full capacity, it will provide jobs for 100 people. He emphasized that they plan to maintain growth by monitoring new investment and employment ...