The Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sector Board held its October meeting on 4 October in Antalya.
At the Introduction and Trade Development Meeting, the current situation, development, problems and solution proposals of agriculture were addressed. Providing information about Antalya in relation to agriculture, Antalya Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sector Board Chairman Soner Kurucan said: Antalya reached exports of USD 2 billion 24 million as of the end of 2022.
Of Antalya's total exports, %55.9 with USD 586.3 million consists of fresh fruit and vegetables, %5.7 with USD 59.3 million of ornamental plants, %4.2 with USD 442 million of cereals, pulses and seeds, and %34.2 with USD 358.4 million of other agricultural areas. With a plant production value of TRY 19.3 billion, Antalya ranks first in Türkiye.
Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sector Board Chairman Cemal Özen, for his part, said in his speech;
How can we increase agricultural awareness? How can we take agriculture beyond being a means of subsistence and transform it into industry, into a great economic power? As the Sector Board, we are working on the matters of Tarımfest, Agricultural Universities and Agricultural High Schools”, he stated. Also touching upon the matter of cooperatives, Özen said: “We expect that food will become more important than industry throughout the world. That is why we must increase production and productivity. There are 20 cooperatives in the Netherlands. While %97 of production and distribution goes through them, in our country this ratio is around %1.5 despite there being 3,000 cooperatives. The only thing that will save our country's agriculture is unity.”
At the end of the meeting, Cemal Özen presented an “Orphan Sponsorship Certificate” to MÜSİAD Antalya Branch President Ali Akçay and expressed his thanks for the hosting. The program concluded with a group photo shoot.
