Photo:©FAO

Isparta – In collaboration with FAO and the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Isparta University of Applied Sciences organized an international webinar on the medicinal leech sector, held on 24-25 February 2021.

Medicinal leeches have been used in folk medicine to treat a variety of ailments for thousands of years. Today, in addition to their complementary role in medicine, medicinal leeches are used effectively in veterinary science to treat certain animal diseases, while the enzymes secreted from leeches are used in the cosmetics and pharmacy sectors as raw material. Such high demand has increased the pressures on wild populations of medicinal leeches. In particular, the degradation of aquatic habitats due to climate change threatens leech populations in both Europe and Turkey.

The webinar focused on issues related to the species of medicinal leeches that are currently considered endangered. Medicinal leech populations were discussed with examples from Southern Europe, Azerbaijan, Romania and the Iberian Peninsula. The webinar also explored economic questions, providing detailed information on recent trends in the international leech trade. Turkey accounts for a significant share of this trade at 80%. One session examined medicinal leech aquaculture based on cases from India, Iran and Turkey, and the last session shed light on the medical applications of medicinal leeches.

The webinar included contributions from Ibrahim Diler, Rector of Isparta University of Applied Sciences, Mustafa Altuğ Atalay, Director General of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey, and Viorel Gutu, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Central Asia and Representative in Turkey. Diler drew attention to the low number of academics in the leech sector, and the resulting delays to research in the industry. Atalay noted that important developments in medicinal leech breeding are underway in Turkey, with the primary goals being protecting the natural population and increasing production through aquaculture.

Emphasizing the contributions of the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP II) to the webinar, Gutu noted that the event had contributed to further developing partnerships in the leech sector at the regional and global scales. He also stated that the FAO SEC office is open to cooperation with academia and research institutions, with a view to widening knowledge and experience on food and agriculture-related issues, including fisheries and aquaculture.

After the technical presentations, the two-day webinar ended with a Q&A session. All the participants agreed that the event provided a platform to discuss almost all dimensions of medicinal leeches and will pave the way for future research and partnerships.

About the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programmes

The objectives of the FAO-Turkey Partnership Programmes are to provide support to ensure food security, rural poverty reduction and sustainable forest management, combat desertification and preserve ecosystems in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan and other countries of mutual interest.

Established in 2007, the first phase of the FAO Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP) has benefited from trust fund contributions totaling USD 10 million, financed by the Government of Turkey and represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. During the first phase of the programme, 28 projects were implemented in 16 countries between 2009-2015.

In 2014, Turkey and FAO commenced the second phase of the FTPP along with the first phase of the FAO-Turkey Forestry Partnership Programme (FTFP) with an additional fund of USD 20 million, bringing Turkey’s total contribution to USD 30 million.