The Regional Agriculture Summit was organized in Elazığ, hosted by MÜSİAD Elazığ, under the coordination of the MÜSİAD Agriculture, Food and Livestock Sector Board.
The Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) organized the Regional Agriculture Summit under the coordination of its Agriculture, Food and Livestock Sector Board. At the Regional Agriculture Summit, held with the hosting of the MÜSİAD Elazığ Branch, presentations aimed at increasing production in the agriculture and livestock sector were made and the problems of the sector were voiced. In addition to MÜSİAD Agriculture, Food and Livestock Sector Board Chairman Cemal Özen and MÜSİAD Elazığ Branch President Tekin Gürkan, the provincial protocol, Elazığ Governor Dr. Ömer Toraman, AK Party Elazığ Member of Parliament Metin Bulut, AK Party Malatya Member of Parliament Öznur Çalık, Elazığ Mayor Şahin Şerifoğulları and Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Ali Kılıç also attended the summit.
Speaking within the scope of the opening speeches at the summit, MÜSİAD Agriculture, Food and Livestock Sector Board Chairman Cemal Özen voiced the agricultural problems on the agenda of the whole world and said, "The world is talking about food, agriculture is on the world's agenda. The world is discussing the food crisis. I would like to share that in the coming periods, if both the world and our country truly fail to take the necessary measures, we may be left face to face with food scarcity and confronted in the long term with policies and systems."
Elazığ Governor Dr. Ömer Toroman, for his part, made statements regarding the region's infrastructure and its suitability for agriculture. Governor Toroman continued his remarks as follows:
“Kuzova is a large plain that has switched to a closed system, an irrigation system, but it is experiencing serious difficulties because of the cost of pump irrigation. In order to overcome this and to support our farmers with a solar power plant model, our Ministry of Agriculture, our General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSİ), went out to tender for a 2-megawatt plant. Unfortunately, because of price volatility we could not conclude the tender, but we are now about to go out to our second tender and we will certainly do this; unless we build this solar power plant, we cannot gain an advantage in irrigated agriculture with pump and high energy costs. Irrigated agriculture, as is known, is agriculture with high added value. On the other hand, there is the Uluova problem, one of Elâzığ's chronic problems. This place was built over time and has served, but at the point we have reached there is 30 percent evaporation, there is water loss. That water is this precious; in this period of time even a single drop of water is very precious. Therefore, in order to convert this to a closed system, our ministry and our DSİ carried out the necessary work and obtained the approvals, but with the Presidential decision published in May it transferred additional resources to Uluova and similar large agricultural projects and made an allocation, and we are grateful for this. Our esteemed President also signed off on a resource facility of approximately 550 million for the Elazığ Uluova project, which is a very high figure. With this figure it means that we will completely convert Uluova into a closed network in 2022-2023, and it means that after years Uluova will become suitable for irrigated agriculture”
MÜSİAD Elazığ Branch President Tekin Gürkan, for his part, expressed in his speech that they attach importance to the development and progress of the region and the city and to the city leading the region. In his speech Gürkan said, "As MÜSİAD, we attach very great importance to the development and progress of our city in every field. With this thought, we strive to bring to life projects that will contribute to the economic and social development of Elazığ. We know that we have the means to increase our production even further. For this, we need improvements that will increase production capacity in existing production facilities and initiatives that will enable new investors to invest. As Elazığ, we have our potential, our infrastructure and our accumulated experience. I believe that together we also carry a new motivation to be able to produce more. God willing, I believe that in the coming period we will reach a better level with the goal of more investment and more production."
After the opening speeches, in the sessions that continued with panels moderated by Prof. Dr. Kenan Peker, the panels Horticultural Crops and Greenhouse Cultivation, New Approaches in Fruit Growing, The Future of the Aquaculture Sector, Livestock Roadmap, and Regional Potential in Field and Forage Crops were held. Parlar Nursery CEO Tanzer Parlar, Sağdıçlar Fishery CEO Veysel Sağdıç, ETBİR President Ahmet Yücesan, Muş Alparslan University Vice Rector and Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Yaşar Karadağ, and Malatya Turgut Özal University Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Kazım Gündüz took part in the panels as speakers.
The summit ended with MÜSİAD Agriculture, Food and Livestock Sector Board Chairman Cemal Özen announcing the General Assessment and Final Declaration.
