Ms. Esin Mete delivers a speech in Borlaug Dialogue about the significance of food management and micronutrient fertilization

17/10/2014

Ms. Esin Mete, the Chairwoman of Toros Agri and the President of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA), attends the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, held between the 15th and 17th of October, 2014 in the Des Moines city of Iowa in State in the U.S.A. The main subject of the Borlaug Dialogue meetings, which are held annually with the support of the World Food Prize, is the “global food security.” The answer for the question of “Can we sustainably feed 9 billion people on our planet by the year 2050?” is sought in this year’s meeting of the Borlaug Dialogue. Ms. Esin Mete takes part in the “Soil Health and Fertilizer Gap” panel of the symposium as a speaker.

In her speech, Ms. Esin Mete stresses the significance of strengthening the food production sustainably in meeting the food need of people along with the increase in the world population. Ms. Mete expresses that the production of secure and nutritious food that is needed to meet the needs of world population can only be ensured with the participation of the players of food and agriculture industry. Stating that the imbalances in global agricultural production should be eliminated in the first place in order to meet the food need of world population, estimated 9 billion by the year 2050, Ms. Mete emphasizes on the importance of the balanced fertilization that aims at providing the right source, in the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place (4R). Ms. Mete gives information on the IFA studies that are conducted in this field.

Reminding in her speech that people need healthy products in order to live a healthy and active life, Ms. Esin Mete says that this can only be achieved with a healthy and balanced production. Ms. Mete tells that the mineral-richness of fertilizers that are used in agricultural products is of vital importance for the crops produced, land seeded, and human life and adds that the productivity losses and healthcare costs that are brought about by malnutrition cost the global economy nearly 3.5 million dollars per year, according to the reports released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Ms. Mete mentions that the micronutrients needed for human health can be transferred to food via agricultural fertilizers and that this will not only greatly contribute to individuals, but also to the global economy.

Besides, Ms. Mete states that the zinc deficiency in Turkey is very widely observed in Turkey among the micronutrient deficiencies as a whole and that the zinc-added fertilizer production of Toros Agri sets a successful example in this field for the whole world. Ms. Mete adds that the fertilizer enrichment studies for eliminating the deficiency of iodine that is also important as much as zinc are promising in finding a solution for the health problems of 2 billion people that suffer iodine deficiency globally.