TÜRKTOB President Güler: Agriculture and seeds should be a national security strategy for countries

The "Turkey Seed Industry Summit in its New Century" was held at a hotel in the Belek tourism region of Serik, Antalya. Following the summit, Hacı Ömer Güler, Chairman of the Board of the Seed Growers Association of Turkey, Yıldıray Gençer, President of the Seed Industrialists and Producers Sub-Association, and members of the TÜRKTOB Board of Directors answered questions from journalists at a press conference. TÜRKTOB President Hacı Ömer Güler discussed the strategies to be followed regarding future droughts, lack of productivity, and the growing population against decreasing land. Pointing out the importance of R&D, Güler said, "You have to improve your plants according to every changing climate condition or you have to update them technologically."

"10 million lira loan for companies for R&D"

Noting that R&D is a matter of patience in terms of time, expenditure, and personnel costs, Güler stated that over 300 of their companies are conducting R&D and said, "Whether these companies continuously support or accelerate R&D depends entirely on a financial perspective. As such, we always ask the state to support it. Let us even allocate more to R&D than to production. If we want to grow healthily, we need to create companies with rich resources that are supported by R&D. We also need to increase company qualifications. There is a 10 million TL loan available for a company for R&D, with a 7-year maturity. If access to these loans becomes easier, companies will not miss this opportunity. This will also provide significant support to this sector along with a serious source of funding. We find this very valuable," he said. "It should be a national security strategy for countries"
Emphasizing that the seed sector is a matter concerning national security, Güler said, "Instead of being a nation that holds out its hand, you have to be a country that produces and is self-sufficient. You can achieve this by constantly keeping science and technology in your hands and through improvement. Our land is constantly decreasing; today our population is 85 million, and we have 35 million tourists. Despite that, we have become sufficient. Is this happening with local varieties? It is not possible for it to be only with heirloom seeds. We were able to achieve this because the productivity and quality of newly developed varieties have increased. Productivity must continue to increase in the future. There are wars, pandemics will always exist, the world population will increase, and our land will always decrease."
Güler pointed out that the issue of agriculture and seeds is above politics, stating, "This should be a national security strategy for countries. It should not be dragged into unnecessary debates. The energy and labor of the country's farmers should not be disparaged."
Gençer: "It also harms the sector, our country's plant production, and seed industry"

Referring to the Seed Law No. 5553, Yıldıray Gençer, President of the Seed Industrialists and Producers Sub-Association, criticized the seed cleaner (selector) application carried out by municipalities. Gençer said, "There are two practices carried out by municipalities. One of them is the distribution of seed cleaners that sift seeds. We have been fighting against these for years. Our farmers bring their own products and sift them here and use them as seeds. In fact, it seems better than using them without any cleaning from the municipality's perspective, but even though there is the Seed Law No. 5553, which is a law enacted to support certified seeds and to ensure that all seeds planted in our country are certified, unfortunately, municipalities think they are providing a service at this point, but they are harming the sector, our country's plant production, and the seed industry," he stated.

News Source: 12punto