Photo: © FAO/Ecenaz Yüzbaşıoğlu

Ankara – A new technical cooperation project launched last month by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Directorate General of Livestock of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF), aims to help transform the livestock sector in Türkiye. The two-year project will improve the technical capacity of the Ministry to develop more effective policies for the sector by systematically classifying the typologies of existing livestock farms and collecting and processing up-to-date data on enterprises.

The project was launched in Ankara with a kick-off workshop on 20 June, which brought together relevant stakeholders from the central and local levels to discuss activities related to the project’s objectives and to initiate fieldwork. The workshop also provided a platform for technical cooperation, the sharing of knowledge and experience, and discussions about sectoral planning in relation to enterprise typologies.

In her opening speech, Ayşegül Selışık, Assistant Representative of FAO in Türkiye, underlined some of the key challenges facing the livestock sector in Türkiye, and how they can be addressed: “The livestock sector must increase its resilience to current challenges, with a focus on women and youth. To this end, decision-makers and stakeholders in the sector must have access to up-to-date, holistic and objective data. To achieve this goal, FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have developed and implemented this joint project to contribute to the strengthening of the livestock sector in Türkiye.”

After this opening speech, Öner Özbey, Head of the Department of Cattle and Ovine Livestock of the General Directorate of Livestock, spoke about previous projects carried out by the Ministry in cooperation with FAO, highlighting in particular the success of the 2022 project Women’s Embroidery in Merino (Merinos’ta Kadın Nakışı), which he noted had “produced good results for women’s cooperatives”. Özbey also emphasized the importance of the new project, noting that it will contribute significantly to the transformation of animal husbandry, leading to a more sustainable sector.

Following these speeches, FAO Project Technical Leader Eran Raizman shared key information about the purpose of the workshop and the overall concept of the project, explaining that ministerial know-how regarding the livestock sector will play a central in the success of the project. Yunus Arzık, Assistant Technical Specialist from the FAO-Türkiye Country Office, then gave a presentation on current typologies of livestock enterprises worldwide and provided examples of good practices. This was followed by a presentation given by Öner Özbey on latest developments related to current data on livestock in Türkiye.

After a question and answer session, the workshop ended with closing speeches given by Özcan Türkoğlu, Senior Programme and Pipeline Coordinator, and Erkan Alkan, Balıkesir Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry.