World Food Day celebrated at the Bademli Nursery Agricultural Development Cooperative
Izmir, Türkiye – As part of World Food Day celebrations, FAO Türkiye organized an event with the Bademli Nursery Agricultural Development Cooperative and the KIRKYOL Cooperative to heighten awareness of the need for more efficient use of water resources and the role of cooperatives in rural development. Entitled “Food, water, cooperativism – leaving no one behind”, the event took place in Ödemiş, İzmir on 21 October 2023.
Speaking at the opening session, Hurşit Nallı, president of the Bademli Cooperative, underscored the important role of cooperatives in leading efforts to promote more efficient use of water, citing the influential activities of the Bademli Cooperative in the Turkish agricultural sector in this regard.
In his address, the Mayor of Ödemiş, Mehmet Eriş, reminded participants that the district is situated on some of the most fertile soils in the world, and underscored the importance of water and food, especially in the light of the recent global pandemic.
Governor of Ödemiş, Fatih Aksoy, shared with the audience some statistics about local agriculture, noting that thousands of people rely on the sector for their livelihoods. Aksoy also emphasized that protecting water resources is the responsibility of all and underlined the need for improvement in drip irrigation in Ödemiş.
The keynote speech was given by Ayşegül Selışık, FAO Assistant Representative, during which she underlined the importance of water and shared striking statistics related to hunger and food insecurity in the world drawn from The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023, an annual FAO report. In her conclusion, Selışık defined cooperatives as one of the most effective tools for equitable and inclusive transformation of the agrifood system and the sustainable use of natural resources.
The heart of the event was a panel discussing problems faced by agricultural development cooperatives in the region and issues related to the efficient use of natural resources. The panellists who engaged with these questions included Mehmet Ali Ul of Department of Farm Structures and Irrigation at Ege University, Bülent Gülçubuk, president of the KIRKYOL Rural Development Cooperative, Neptün Soyer, president of the Izmir Village Cooperatives Union, and Alim Murathan, Advisor to the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor. Murathan’s presentation on the Rainwater Harvesting Project in Küçükmenderes Plain received particular attention from the audience.
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