Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerWith the Mera İzmir project, which was created with the vision of "Another Agriculture is Possible", small producers were supported by purchasing 2023 million milk in the first three months of 5. Saying that the project is the biggest milk movement of İzmir, İzTarım A.Ş. General Manager Murat Onkardeşler said, “We aim to support our producer by collecting milk worth 50 million liras this year.”
Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç SoyerWith the Mera İzmir project, which was created with the vision of "Another Agriculture is Possible", the producer from İzmir was supported by making purchases above the market price in 2023. İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, which received about 20 million liras worth of milk last year, increased its milk support by 25 percent this year and bought 43 thousand liters of sheep and 130 thousand liters of goat milk. The subsidiary of the Metropolitan Municipality, İzTarım A.Ş. 5 million lira support was provided to the small producer with the purchases made by the company.
“The biggest milk movement in Izmir history”
Giving information about the continuous works in the plains and pastures of İzmir, İzTarım A.Ş. General Manager Murat Onkardeşler said, “Last year we produced a shepherd's map. In the data we obtained from the shepherd map, we saw that the shepherds were left to their fate. We made a deal with them. We said that if they do animal husbandry and milk production under the conditions we want, we will buy their milk at twice the current market conditions. Last year we kept our promise. We provided support to our producer by collecting hot milk worth approximately 20 million liras. This was the biggest dairy movement in the history of İzmir, in terms of sheep and goat farming. By continuing this work this year, we have shown to our producer that this process is not temporary but permanent. Due to this approach of ours last year, many of our shepherds fed their female animals to their herds for milking instead of sending them to slaughter. For this reason, the number of herds in İzmir has increased at an incredible level.”
“2023 million support target for producers in 50”
Murat Onkardeşler said, “This year, we again agreed with our producers at prices well above the market conditions, and in addition, we opened new regions. We have now included our Menemen, Kiraz, Tire, Bayındır and Torbalı districts into this process. As of last month, we collected 5 million TL worth of milk. This figure is 25 percent higher than last year's average. More shepherds started to give more milk in our current places and new places joined us. We aim to support our producers by collecting 50 million liras of milk this year.”
“We want to spread İzmir's mozzarella to the world”
Stating that the milk purchased from the producer is on the shelves with the İzmirli brand, Onkardeşler stated that both drought and poverty are being struggled with the project and said, “We are struggling with a major climate crisis. The whole world continues to experience this process, but native races and native seeds have always adapted to this situation. A serious transformation started in this Küçük Menderes Plain with cows called holsteins brought from abroad. These animals need serious silage to feed. That's why people planted acres of corn. The biggest problem of Turkey is the feed problem. Unfortunately, as long as cattle breeding continues in this plain, it causes a milk crisis. We saw this with 'Another Agriculture Is Possible'. The solution exists within itself. These lands have been breeding cattle for thousands of years. In the past, there was no cow cheese, there was sheep goat cheese. Again, İzmir has a very serious buffalo potential. It has been taken out of this region since the 1950s. The buffaloes leaving Izmir Port that day return to the whole world in Italy as mozzarella and buratta cheese. Now we want to spread Izmir's mozzarella to the world," he said.
Conversion from cattle to sheep farming
Stating that they support the breeds and seeds of the region, Onkardeşler said, “If we can transform from cattle breeding to small cattle breeding, if we can ensure competition in sheep and goat cheese, we will make a very serious contribution. We will fill our producers' pockets, provide healthy and safe food to our consumers, and fight the climate crisis. We obtain our İzmirli branded products from sheep and goat milk products. The most important feature of our cheeses is that they are matured for at least 1 year. We put our products on the market at a much more economical price than the sheep and goat products in the current market. We are currently selling both at Halkin Bakkalları and on the website. We are planning to open the markets of Izmir as of May," he said.