Scientific and Technological Support to Farmers from KFAU

Source: https://www.pervasiz.com.tr/baskan-erkoyuncu-konya-ovasi-kirmizi-alarmda

Konya Seker organized Young Farmer Program for its producer partners in order to shape the future of agriculture with young people.  Mehmet Kılıç, Konya Provincial Director of Youth and Sports Birdal Öztürk, Konya Provincial Director of Youth Services Harun Aydın, Konya Chamber of Agricultural Engineers Konya Branch President Burak Kırkgöz, Konya Sugar Factory General Manager Kemal Ateş, Konya Sugar Board Members, Konya Beet Planters Cooperative Board Members, young farmers and many guests.

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL SUPPORT TO FARMERS FROM KFAU

KFAU Chairman of the Board of Trustees Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kılıç, who made the opening speech of the program, emphasized the importance of cooperation and studies between the university and farmers, and said that the laboratories operating within the university are always at the service of farmers. Kılıç said, "Our university continues its activities in a continuous and strong cooperation with our farmers. We aim to provide accurate, clear and reliable analysis results to our producers with our well-equipped laboratories where we carry out scientific-based studies. Especially in our microbiology laboratories, we develop predictions for the problems likely to be encountered in the next 10 years; in this direction, we carry out studies on production-oriented, sustainable solutions. As the university of Konya Seker, we will continue to stand by our farmers and provide support in every field with determination. We believe that it is of great importance to act in unity and solidarity in this process."

THEORY AND PRACTICE WERE PRESENTED TO YOUNG PEOPLE TOGETHER

Konya Youth Services Director Harun Aydın announced that the Youth Camps, which have become thematic in recent years, were implemented with the theme of “Agriculture” for the first time in 2025. Aydın stated that 2 thousand 114 young people from 81 provinces of Turkey were hosted within the scope of the application launched in Hüyük Youth Camp. Stating that training programs are organized in cooperation with Konya Food and Agriculture University (KFAU) in the Youth Camps, Aydın said that in addition to theoretical trainings for young people, practical field trips and workplace visits are also carried out. Stating that consultations were held with the Chamber of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, public institutions, Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry and KFAU during the program process, Aydın pointed out that the educational dimension of the camps was undertaken by the university and thanked KFAU for their support.

WATER PROBLEM IS UNDER THE CLOSE WATCH OF PRESIDENT ERKOYUNCU

Ramazan Erkoyuncu, President of PANKOBİRLİK and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Konya Beet Planters Cooperative, emphasized that young farmers are of great importance for the future of agriculture and stated that they will continue such programs in order to increase productivity in production and to reflect knowledge and technology to the field. In his speech, President Erkoyuncu emphasized that water is vital for agriculture and made the following statements; "Konya is one of the locomotive cities of our country in agriculture. However, as we all know, sustainability of agriculture is not possible without water. Unfortunately, at the point we have reached today, the water issue has reached an extremely grave dimension. In all evaluations and speeches, Turkey's agriculture, which has the largest agricultural economy in Europe and the 10th largest agricultural economy in the world, due to the reality of drought, which is also felt on a global scale but which we face in our country and especially in the Konya plain, if we do not put urgent action plans into action, shrinkage in our agricultural output will become inevitable and the risk of foreign dependency will grow day by day. Everyone seems to be making a sincere effort to address these concerns. However, there is one unchanging fact: The water issue is our first priority and we need to focus all our attention on this issue. The importance of agriculture is frequently emphasized today and tomorrow. However, in our opinion, the real value of agriculture will be understood much more clearly in the future. However, when we look from today to tomorrow, the current situation of our farmers is unfortunately not good. For the last one or two years, our producers have been facing serious difficulties. In this process, climatic conditions and especially lack of water are among the most determining factors. Bringing water to the Konya Plain is of vital importance. Unfortunately, not a single drop of water has reached the Konya Plain from the Çarşamba Stream for the last two years. For this reason, almost all agricultural production is based on groundwater. However, our underground water resources are also under serious threat. As of today, we are on red alert. Our first priority for our farmers is to make a determined effort to solve the water problem.