A cooperation protocol was signed between the Turkish Agricultural Credit Cooperatives and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) to produce national solutions needed in the agriculture, livestock and food sectors and to develop the informatics infrastructure of agricultural cooperatives.

A cooperation protocol between Agricultural Credit and TUBITAK, General Manager of Agricultural Credit Cooperatives Dr. Fahrettin Poyraz and TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Signed by Hasan Mandal. Agricultural Credit Cooperatives Central Union Chairman of the Board of Directors Köksal Kacır, administrators from both institutions and many guests attended the ceremony held for the signing of the protocol.
In his speech at the signing ceremony, General Manager Poyraz drew attention to the fact that the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives were established to facilitate the activities of the producers and said, "The cooperation protocol we will sign with TÜBİTAK is of particular importance for us within the scope of the future vision we have set and the digital transformation movement we have initiated."

“We started the digital transformation movement”

Stating that they are working hard to increase the use of developing technologies in agriculture and to ensure the highest yield from the country's lands, Poyraz stated that they provide support in every field that our farmers need throughout the country.
Stating that they started a digital transformation movement, Poyraz said, “Agricultural Credit Cooperatives is a structure with a great potential with one and a half century of experience and 850 thousand partners. We want to carry this potential to the future more strongly with the digital transformation vision we have determined. For this purpose, we want to put our projects on stronger foundations by joining forces with TÜBİTAK. With the protocol, we are going to cooperate in order to produce national solutions that our country needs in agriculture, animal husbandry and food sector. We will carry out R&D activities with the aim of managing the supply-demand chain of agricultural products and developing the informatics infrastructure of agricultural cooperatives. We will cooperate to support and carry out R&D activities in line with the priorities determined within the scope of national strategic goals and policies.

"We are in every field of agricultural production"

Stating that they aim to ensure maximum efficiency from the soil by increasing the use of developing technologies in agriculture, Poyraz said, “With our Central and Regional Unions, my colleagues working in our Cooperatives, we offer support not only to our partners but also to all fields that our farmers need throughout the country. As an institution, we are in every field of agricultural production. From pre-production soil analysis to spraying; We reflect our knowledge and experience to the field at every stage of production, from the field to the table, from post-harvest storage to bringing the products to the consumer. Our responsibility is not to waste the efforts of our partners who love their land and shed their sweat for their country. We have developed many projects in order to use resources appropriately and efficiently and for our partners to benefit from developing technological opportunities. We continue to develop,"

“We cannot ignore change”

Pointing out that the climate, soil, water resources and manpower dealing with agriculture have changed, Poyraz said: “We cannot ignore that many things have changed compared to the old times. To keep up with new developments and not to be adversely affected by these changes, the best step to take is to follow technological developments closely and even be a developer. The protocol we signed with TÜBİTAK is a good example of this.
The market share of food and agricultural technologies, which is 500 billion dollars today, is expected to reach 730 billion dollars in 2023. While the current market share of Smart Agricultural Technologies is around 10 billion dollars, this figure is expected to reach 20 billion dollars in 2023. It is seen that the field of agricultural technologies will continue to attract more attention of the world in the near future. For the human population that will exceed 9.5 billion by 2050, we have to produce about twice the amount produced now. And again, we lose a significant amount of arable agricultural land every year due to reasons such as global warming and migration from village to city. For this reason, productive agricultural production and precision agriculture have become a necessity, not a luxury. The fact that we are self-sufficient today does not prevent us from taking precautions against these problems that we will encounter in the future. Especially when we look at the G7 countries, it is clearer how strategically important the agricultural field is.”

“We are starting the project work with TÜBİTAK BİLGEM"

Stating that the communication and transactions of the partners with the cooperative will be made more effective by making more use of technology, Poyraz said: “We are also working on developing data-driven Smart Agriculture Applications, mobile applications including big data and artificial intelligence. As I mentioned before, Agricultural Credit Cooperatives is a structure that has a great potential with one and a half century of experience and 850 thousand partners. We want to carry this potential to the future more strongly with the digital transformation vision we have determined. For this purpose, we want to put our projects on stronger foundations by joining forces with TÜBİTAK. With this protocol, we are going to cooperate in order to produce national solutions that our country needs in the agriculture, livestock and food sectors. We will carry out R&D activities with the aim of managing the supply-demand chain of agricultural products and developing the informatics infrastructure of agricultural cooperatives. We will cooperate to support and carry out R&D activities in line with the priorities determined within the scope of national strategic goals and policies. In this context, we are taking a concrete step and, as Turkey Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, we are starting project studies with TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Software Technologies Institute for the development of digital transformation and the information infrastructure of agricultural cooperatives.”
TUBITAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, in his speech at the signing ceremony at the institution building, said that the cooperation stems from Turkey's need for food security. Stating that food safety is one of the most important issues studied on a global scale, Mandal said, "There are different evaluations about the race for quality and reliable food in the world. Our country ranks 48th as a result of these evaluations. When we look at the top 10 countries, we see that food safety is also an important indicator of development. In this sense, our cooperation in the field of food and its transformation into action is critical and imperative," he said. Mandal pointed out that cooperation should be carried out on the basis of science, technology, R&D and innovation, and emphasized the importance of stakeholders working together. After the speeches, the protocol was signed and a souvenir photo was taken.