Interfresh Eurasia Fair, the only "Vegetables, Fruits, Packaging, Storage, Logistics, Agricultural Machinery and Technologies Fair and Congress" in Turkey's sector, which will be held in Antalya Anfaş between October 20 – 22, 2022, will be the event of Turkish exporters with 16 foreign buyers from 160 different countries this year. will bring it together.
Aegean Exporters' Unions Coordinator Vice President and Aegean Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Exporters' Association President Hayrettin Plane, ANTEXPO Fuarcılık Hizmetleri A.Ş., which organizes Interfresh Eurasia Fair, the only fair of the fresh fruit and vegetable sector. He held a press conference with General Manager Murat Özer.
At the meeting, up-to-date information on the export performance of the fresh fruit, vegetable and fruit and vegetable products sectors in the first half of 2022 and the Interfresh Eurasia Fair, which will be held in Antalya on 20-22 October 2022, were shared.
Germany, USA, Russia top three countries
Aegean Exporters' Unions Coordinator Vice President and Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters' Association President Hayrettin Airplane, announced that the exports of fresh fruits, vegetables and products increased by 2022 percent in the first 6 months of 9 compared to the previous year, to 551 million dollars.
“We closed last year with 1 billion 182 million dollars of exports. If we maintain our 6-month growth momentum, I think we can increase our exports to 1 billion 300 million dollars at the end of this year, and to one and a half billion dollars at the end of 100, the 2023th anniversary of our Republic. On the basis of countries, the top 3 countries to which we export the most in our exports of fresh fruits, vegetables and products; Germany with 93 million dollars, the USA with 87 million dollars and Russia with 65 million dollars. We exported to 122 countries in the six-month period.”
Plane said, “The increase in raw material prices in our exports, logistics problems, the situation of the Euro-Dollar parity force us to give competitive prices from time to time. But let's not forget that we are an agricultural country. We manufacture the product we export ourselves, we process and package our products in our highly modern processing facilities. Therefore, I think that we always have an open future.” said.
Third Generation Agricultural Entrepreneurship Training Program
Explaining that the Third Generation Agricultural Entrepreneurship Training Program, which started in March, lasted for 6 weeks, Hayrettin Uçar said, “Within the scope of our successfully completed project, we offered a comprehensive training program covering the necessary processes for sustainable agriculture to 40 young entrepreneurs who are in their last year of university or have just graduated, and we successfully graduated our students. . We are delighted to hear that our graduates are very satisfied with our training program. During the training, very beautiful and innovative projects emerged, we are in contact with friends to evaluate some of these projects.” he said.
We Know the Pesticides We Use Project
Stating that they have formed a 7-person sub-committee on Fruit and Vegetable Products, Uçar mentioned that they will start their activities by forming other committees in the coming days.
“Our aim here is for these committees to propose solutions to the sector's problems and to produce new projects to increase our exports. Soon we will begin to reap the fruits of our committees. We continue our project, We Know the Pesticides We Use, which we have been continuing since last year and which we expanded this year, without slowing down. This year, our project continues in 10 products. We got our analysis results for strawberries, cherries, gherkins and peaches, and for now, I can say that the results are generally positive.”
We will reduce post-harvest losses between 30% and 50%.
Explaining that they spent a great deal of time on product and region-based meetings with manufacturers and exporters in the 6-month period, Hayrettin Aircraft continued his words as follows:
“We held meetings with broad participation in the districts of Kemalpaşa, Sultanhisar, Selçuk, Ödemiş and Alaşehir. Expert speakers were invited to these meetings, and we conveyed information to the producers and revealed our expectations from our producers. As of August, we are starting the Project for Determination of Post-Harvest Losses in Mandarin, Pomegranate and Tomatoes with Ege University. In this project, we have goals such as reducing post-harvest losses by 30% to 50%, using less chemicals by reducing losses, and increasing the amount of quality products that can be marketed. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also has an idea of being a stakeholder in our project. I hope this project will also be a beneficial project for the sector.”
We are starting a project to implement Good Agricultural Practices
Hayrettin Uçar said, “In order to increase the quality in production, we are starting a project for the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices in 100 mandarin producers in Selçuk, Menderes and Seferihisar districts of İzmir in the coming days, together with the İzmir Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry. This year, we resumed our overseas activities, which we paused due to the pandemic. First of all, we organized a trade delegation to India within the scope of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable URGE Project carried out by our Association, and we held bilateral business meetings with over 50 buyers in this delegation. As of September, both our URGE delegations and our participation in foreign fairs will continue without slowing down.”
If we get efficiency in Antalya, we also think in Izmir and Istanbul.
Plane emphasized that the Interfresh fair, which will be held for the third time in Antalya on 20-22 October 2022, is the only fresh fruit and vegetable fair in the country and should be embraced as an industry.
“I think it is important and necessary for our country, which has fertile lands, where all kinds of fruits and vegetables are grown, to host an international fresh fruit and vegetable fair that makes a name for itself. We, as the Exporters' Associations in Turkey, will participate in the fair with a common stand. With such fairs, potential buyers come together with our companies and have face-to-face commercial meetings, and have the opportunity to visit our companies' facilities and see them on site. It creates an opportunity to show our companies' modern facilities above international standards to our overseas buyers. It will be a productive fair in October. If we get efficiency in Antalya, we also think in Izmir and Istanbul.”
1,8 million tons of vegetables and 750 thousand tons of fruit production in İzmir
İzmir Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Mustafa Özen said, “İzmir is an important agricultural city. We produce 3,8 million tons of vegetables and 1,8 thousand tons of fruit on 750 million decares of agricultural land. We have to run this sector together as both producers and marketers. That's why EİB's contribution is huge. All stakeholders in the agricultural sector, which stands out in the world, have added value. The important thing is to carry the togetherness into the future. It is pleasing that there is a 10-15 percent increase in export figures despite the pandemic, climatic problems and drought. Cases that have increased again due to the effects of the pandemic paint an alarming picture. We must be conscious about adapting to global climate change and using agricultural lands and agricultural water. The end of the Russia-Ukraine war, which negatively affects the agricultural sector, will make positive contributions to our country's agriculture. said.
Vice President of Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters' Association Murat Award said, “We will accelerate our URGE delegations and foreign marketing in the new period. As the Board of Directors, we work with great enthusiasm.” said.
16 foreign buyers from 160 different countries will come
ANTEXPO Fuarcılık Hizmetleri A.Ş., who said that the first and only fair of the sector will meet with the sector after a long time, after the pandemic. General Manager Murat Özer continued his words as follows:
“Exhibitions are one of the fastest and most effective components of the industry in marketing. Because you have the most comfortable platform to show your products and businesses to buyers in Turkey. The costs are different in fairs abroad. You can show your business to foreign buyers from abroad at fairs in Turkey. You can introduce dozens of businesses established with modern technology in Turkey. Europe's fresh fruit and vegetable volume reached 70 billion euros, while Turkey reached a volume of 1,5 billion euros this year. This year, we are bringing three market chains from Europe, two from Russia, and two from the Middle East to the fair.”
41 Turkish companies will meet with 160 foreign buyers
Özer said, “We invited 160 different buyers, traders and big wholesalers to the fair. We will bring together 16 foreign buyers from 160 countries with our exporters. We will organize global conferences The main theme is climate change, sustainable agriculture, residue-free agriculture. We are in cooperation with 5 different universities. There are three production regions in Turkey: Mediterranean, Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Air transportation is very important for airports to bring foreign buyers from abroad. Izmir's air transportation has now improved and is actively used. It is possible for the fair to come to İzmir in the coming periods. It is a big problem for the logistics sector, so if logistics costs are reduced, Turkish exporters will reach higher figures. A total of 41 Turkish companies are participating in the fair. There are 17-18 companies with options, and we anticipate that they will participate 80 percent. We will reach 15 companies from the Aegean region.” he said.
Turkey has to take its position quickly: we must fulfill the requirements of the Constitutional Court
TARSID President Prof. Dr. Rahmi Öztürk said, “There are things we need to pay attention to in the Green Agreement and sustainable agriculture. We must move away from fossil fuels quickly. Rapid transformation started in the EU and developed countries, and measures were taken. Turkey has to take its position quickly. There are expert opinions on the subject that sea water will rise with the increase in the average temperature in the world. If we do not solve the situation urgently in the world, 180 million people will become refugees. Rain harvesting and rain fields and rain and flood waters have to be collected in one place. The Netherlands has this planning. We must put rainwater in underground tanks. There is serious radiation emission in buildings. Insulation in buildings should be addressed.” said.
Explaining that the changes that are likely to occur in 2100 in the past days have been drawn to 2050, Öztürk concluded his words as follows:
“There are new cases of emission gases. We want to control it - we want to reduce carbon emissions, but the missiles fired in the Russia-Ukraine war caused serious damage to the atmosphere. We have to switch to electric vehicles. There are important developments in the state regarding climate change. In the past days, the circular regarding the establishment of the “National Sustainable Development Coordination Board” was published in the Official Gazette with the signature of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. What kind of precautions should be taken in agricultural crop production in the world; There are studies on growing plants with the least water in drought. If our country does not comply with the European Green Deal, our exports to Europe may be endangered. Now, with the QR code, the fertilizer, soil, medicine and even the energy source used to produce the product can be detected. We must fulfill the requirements of the AYM.
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