The Future of Healthy Life Council was held in cooperation with Ege University and Turkish Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, under the auspices of the Presidency, with the participation of 600 academics from different fields.

The opening of the council held at Ege University 50th Year Sports Hall was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Presidency Health and Food Policies Board Prof. Dr. Serkan Topaloğlu, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Fatih Metin, General Manager of Agricultural Credit Cooperatives Dr. Fahrettin Poyraz and Ege University Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Budak attended the ceremony.
Deputy Chairman of the Presidency Health and Food Policies Board Prof. Dr. Serkan Topaloğlu, in his speech at the opening, stated that Turkey is in good condition in terms of health services and infrastructure, and that they aim to get rid of foreign dependency in medicine and medical devices with their R&D and innovation studies.
Topaloğlu stated that such organizations have a great importance in the development of health policies.
Drawing attention to the position of the health infrastructure in Turkey, Topaloğlu said:
"Especially in countries with a wide and inclusive social security system, such as our country, the high costs are pushing our social security system. It is not easy to deal with this. We aim to provide this wide range of health services to all our citizens. In order to maintain comprehensive health care, in particular, innovation, a healthy lifestyle "I think that the decisions to be taken here will contribute to this. We are already in a good condition in terms of service and infrastructure in health. We aim to get rid of foreign dependency in health by developing domestic and national medicines and medical devices, especially through R&D and innovation studies.",

“We provide an effective food control”

Fatih Metin, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, said that complementary and effective food control is provided throughout the entire food chain from farm to fork throughout Turkey.
Stating that as the Ministry, they continue to work on reducing salt and sugar consumption and providing accurate information to consumers within the scope of combating obesity, Metin said that energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and other foodstuffs will be labeled as prepackaged foods as of 31 December 2019. He reminded that it would be mandatory to specify the amount of salt.

“We are in an effort to increase domestic national seeds”

General Manager of Turkey Agricultural Credit Cooperatives Dr. Fahrettin Poyraz also stated that one of the most basic points of a healthy life is the issue of nutrition, and therefore the issue of producing, reaching and supplying natural and healthy foods is an indispensable issue. Pointing out that Turkey's health expenditures increased from 141 billion TL to 165 billion TL, with an increase of 17.5% compared to 2018, according to TUIK data, Poyraz said, “At the same time, the prevalence of obesity in our country is increasing day by day, as in other countries in the world. In order to change this course, we need to give our new generation healthy eating habits, which is the guarantee of our future.”
Poyraz said, “As Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, we want to emphasize the necessity of planning and controlling every step of the entire value chain, from the seed to the table, for the products to be consumed as the most basic condition of healthy nutrition.”
“In Turkey, if we are going to talk about food and healthy life, we also need to talk about the planning in food production, the lack of planning, and to what extent the value chains from seed to table are under control.
At the point of not using GMO products, which have various risks in terms of human health, we are in an effort to develop certified seeds and increase domestic national seeds with our own affiliates. So far, 33 certified seeds and 19 of them locally grown seeds belonging to our own subsidiary….

“We reduced fertilizer consumption by 25 percent and increased productivity up to 60 percent”

We also have a truth; Whatever we do, today there is the use of chemical fertilizers. On the other hand, there is the use of pesticides. We need to raise awareness of our farmers. We need to show that it is possible to obtain more efficiency by using less fertilizer with the right methods. Here, we expect support from our professors, especially at universities. We ourselves are making applications of this in the field. Last year, we reached approximately 40 thousand farmers in this way. We have shown in practice that by reducing the fertilizer consumption by 25 percent at the point of using the right fertilizer, the efficiency can be increased up to 60 percent.
On the other hand, it is not only possible to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, but also to increase the use of organic fertilizers. We also continue to work on expanding the use of organic fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers. At the moment, we are trying to popularize the use of organic fertilizers in 10 different products with our subsidiaries.”

“We developed a natural medicine from the chrysanthemum plant”

Pointing out that the use of pesticides is one of the biggest threats directly in front of a healthy diet, Poyraz said: “Some issues arise from time to time in the public opinion regarding this issue. We often hear that some of the exported products are returned from abroad at certain times. We have developed a medicine called COBRE KEY, which is obtained from the 'Chrysanthemum' plant, which is obtained by natural means. We are in a position to fight against a thousand different pests with this pesticide, which is obtained naturally without using chemical pesticides.
Another issue is animal nutrition. We also have activities related to this issue. We do not feed the products we do not eat to our animals. As in plant nutrition, the animal feeding point will directly affect human health, so studies on animal nutrition need to be improved.”

“We have undertaken to be a bridge between the producer and the consumer”

Stating that as the Turkish Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, they increase their responsibilities not only on the producer side but also on the consumer side, Poyraz said, “We recently accelerated our efforts to bring the products produced by our producers directly to the consumers. In this context, the Turkish Agricultural Credit Cooperatives have undertaken the responsibility of providing healthy food for all our students staying in the Credit and Hostels Institution throughout the country, our Mehmetçi in the barracks, and our staff and students at this university within the framework of the protocol we signed with Ege University. Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey, which undertakes to be a bridge between the producer and the consumer, believes that healthy nutrition is planned and controlled from seed to table and continues its activities in this direction.

"We must start dreaming of Aegean 2055"

Ege University Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Budak, on the other hand, stated that as a university, they do not remain indifferent to the needs of the society and try to develop solutions, "As we move towards the 100th anniversary of our university, we must start imagining the target of 'Aegean 2055'. For this, we need to start designing the future of healthy living and the steps we will take for the future. Here, we will go beyond looking at health, agriculture, sports and engineering separately, and discuss them in terms of their interactions with each other.”
At the meeting, which was held with an interactive participation method, 600 participants at 60 round tables discussed the issues on their agenda together in working groups working simultaneously and expressed their opinions. In the morning session of the council, which was held in two sessions, “The Future of Health and Change Agenda and University Tools” were discussed. In the second session of the program in the afternoon, the topics of "İzmir, the Center of Good Life, Ege University, the Pioneer of Healthy Life" were discussed.
Turkey Agricultural Credit Cooperatives subsidiaries Tarım Kredi Birlik, Tareks and Tarkim also attended and introduced their products and services. Local and natural products sold in cooperatives markets were offered to the participants.
İzmir Regional Manager Mehmet Aksoy, Tarım Kredi Birlik General Manager Hasan Hüseyin Demiröz, Tareks General Manager Burhanettin Topsakal, Tarkim General Manager Mehmet Derin, relevant regional assistant managers, personnel and many guests and press members attended the opening of the meeting.