Ms. Esin Mete participated in Feeding the World Summit

2/14/2014

Ms. Esin Mete, President of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) and CEO of Tekfen Holding’s Agri-Industry Division and Chairwoman of Toros Agri-Industry Group, participated in the summit called as “Feeding the World” organized on 13th February 2014 in London by The Economist. In the meeting, where the related industry leaders, government officers, non-governmental organizations and scientists convened, Ms. Mete made a speech on the importance of fertilizers in tackling hunger and malnutrition.

The full text of Ms. Mete, underlining that addition of micronutrition to the fertilizers is a simple, economic and sustainable solution is as follows:
“Good day ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to be part of this distinguished panel and I am here to talk to you about the role of fertilizers in providing solutions to malnutrition and stunting.
The previous speakers made a compelling case for eradicating malnutrition in our lifetime. The fertilizer industry fully supports this goal. More than one-tenth of the total disease burden health problems from which the global population suffers can be traced back to micronutrient deficiencies. These micronutrients can be provided in several cases by agriculture and through fertilizers; by making the food we eat more nutritious.
Agronomic biofortification is not as well-known as genetic fortification. The objectives for both are to enhance the levels of key micronutrients in staple foods and make them bioavailable for humans through food consumption.
Recent research demonstrated that macro-and micronutrient deficient soils reduce not only yields, but also the bioavailability of minerals that are essential to humans who consume the crops cultivated on these deficient soils. Supplementing fertilizers with micronutrients addresses the deficiencies in the soils, in plants and in humans. As such, they contribute to increasing the quantity of food by raising yields but also the nutritional quality of the food.  The added micronutrients have immediate and profound impacts. Chronic deficiencies affecting mostly women and children in the local population are quickly eliminated as a result and contribute to eradicating many micronutrient-related illnesses.
Among all micronutrient deficiencies, zinc is one of the most common:
• 2 billion people worldwide are zinc deficient and
• 1.5 million children die each year from zinc deficiency induced diarrhea
• 50% of the world’s agricultural soils (FAO) are also zinc deficient.

I feel very strongly about this cause because I have seen the results of micronutrient fertilization first-hand in my home country, Turkey. After scientific research revealed that soils in Turkey were severely deficient in zinc and wheat yields very low as a consequence, my company Toros Agri, dedicated itself to produce zinc-enhanced fertilizers. Our efforts have been repaid not just with higher yields but with a new generation growing up free of deficiencies. Nowadays over 300 000 tons of zinc enriched fertilizer is applied in Turkey and the economic benefits are at approximately $100 million as estimated by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture.
We feel it is our responsibility to help promote this good practice everywhere in the world. The zinc success story is not limited to Turkey alone. In fact, half of the soils in the world are deficient in zinc.  Important work and field trials are being conducted under the Zinc Nutrient Initiative in China, India, Brazil and Bangladesh.
The fertilizer industry is hopeful that after zinc, iodine will be our industry’s next human health success story. Iodine deficiency remains a major public health concern with 2 billion people being iodine deficient. We believe that iodine biofortication  can be a vital part of the solution. Recent research has shown that there is tremendous potential for iodine fertilization as an alternative to iodized salt, which provides the iodine necessary to the human body without the risks of heart disease and elevated blood pressure caused by high salt intake. Studies have been conducted on lettuce and tomato and both proved to be excellent candidates for iodine biofortification.
Other successful examples for other micronutrients exist around the world. In Finland, for example, the government implemented the addition of selenium to fertilizers in order to help tackle heart disease. HarvestPlus is also doing important work with iron, and vitamin A.
As you can see, we can make incredible progress in addressing micronutrient deficiency. Micronutrient fertilization is a simple, affordable and sustainable solution to contribute to eradicating deficiencies globally. This makes it a viable program which can be tailored to regional and national needs and implemented worldwide.
Partnerships already exist in some countries but the scale of the work needs further dissemination of these important findings. Transformative partnerships will provide a wealth of opportunities.
Forums such as this one are powerful venues to encourage experience sharing among stakeholders and to drive change for eradicating hunger and malnutrition in our lifetime.”