TÜBİTAK Declares Support for the Project That Will Contribute to Sustainability and Productivity in Agriculture

The "Sustainable Agricultural Technologies Platform Compatible with Global Climate Change in Turkey’s Agricultural Production " project, which was presented as one of the supported projects at the ceremony held with the participation of Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank and TÜBİTAK President Hasan Mandal within the scope of Teknofest 2023, will make significant contributions to sustainability and productivity in agriculture. 
 
Tekfen Holding Agri-Industry Group Vice President Ahmet Eren stated that the project, supported by Toros Tarım and Tekfen Tarım, was carried out with a budget of 94.2 million TRY and said: “Our belief is that the microbial product, which will be developed as part of the project funded with 2.18 million TRY from Toros Tarım and 2.35 million TRY from Tekfen Tarım, will play an important role in sustainability and productivity in agriculture.”
 
The “Sustainable Agricultural Technologies Platform Compatible with Global Climate Change in Turkey’s Agricultural Production (S-ATP)” project, led by Erciyes University with the contribution of Toros Tarım and Tekfen Tarım, was entitled to be supported under the TÜBİTAK 1004 - Center of Excellence Support Program. The project, on which Toros Tarım and Tekfen Tarım have been working for two years, successfully passed the evaluation process following the application to the program, which supports bringing public and industrial organizations and universities together and developing projects aligned with the Green Deal goals. The project, which was presented as one of the supported projects at the ceremony held with the participation of Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank and TÜBİTAK President Hasan Mandal within the scope of Teknofest 2023, will contribute to the development of the agricultural sector with sustainable technologies.

We should look for ways to obtain more products with high nutritional value

Tekfen Holding Agri-Industry Group Vice President Ahmet Eren stated that the agriculture sector is one of the sectors most affected by climate change due to the decrease in water and energy resources and increase in temperatures and added: “The need to enhance productivity in agriculture while preserving the soil and natural resources has become an increasingly significant issue over time. Sustainability in agriculture has become very important in terms of providing sufficient and high-quality foodstuff for the rapidly increasing world population. For this reason, all actors in the agri-food supply chain have to produce more and better quality products using fewer resources. By making better use of our arable lands, we should search for ways to obtain more products with high nutritional value from the same area.

Playing an important role in agricultural productivity

Noting that with the call made in 2021, the "Sustainable Agricultural Technologies Platform Compatible with Global Climate Change in Turkey’s Agricultural Production" project was initiated with a consortium formed in cooperation with different institutions and universities in line with this purpose, Eren also said, “TÜBİTAK will provide 2.18 million TRY on behalf of Toros Tarım and 2.35 million TRY on behalf of Tekfen Tarım for the project, which is carried out with a budget of 94.2 million TRY. We believe that the microbial product to be developed as a result of Toros Tarım’s work with partnering stakeholders will play an important role in sustainability and productivity in agriculture. On the other hand, Tekfen Tarım takes place on the platform with its Sustainable Soilless Agricultural Technologies project. With the TÜBİTAK 1004 Program, scientific research programs with high commercialization potential are supported for the research infrastructures of higher education institutions to specialize and become centers of excellence by collaborating with R&D and design centers and public R&D units. In this sense, we, together with Toros Tarım R&D Center and Tekfen Tarım, one of our Group companies, support the 'Sustainable Agricultural Technologies Platform Compatible with Global Climate Change in Turkey’s Agricultural Production' project, implemented under the leading execution of Erciyes University, with all our R&D experience and technological strength”.

Supported projects take the stage at Teknofest 2023

Emphasizing that the project was found deserving of support as a result of the evaluation made by TÜBİTAK, Eren said, “We are very happy that the project, of which we are involved as the Research Program Executive Organization, was included in the support program of TÜBİTAK as a result of the positive evaluation of our application. Within the scope of Teknofest 2023, our project was deemed eligible for support during the event organized with the participation of our Minister of Industry and Technology, Mr. Mustafa Varank, and TÜBİTAK President Hasan Mandal. This is truly an honor for us. I would like to thank all our employees who contributed to the preparation and application process of the project on which we are working on the development of microbial products. With the project, we contribute to the efforts in our country to carry the agricultural sector to the future with more sustainable technologies.”
 
Nermin Aka, Deputy General Manager of Research, Planning, and Coordination of Toros Tarım, stated that they were pleased that Toros Tarım, which has always been a trailblazer in sustainable agriculture, and Tekfen Tarım, which carries out its activities with pioneering activities in its sector, took part together in such a high value-added platform and added, “It is a great source of pride for us to take part in this project, where all the competencies of the stakeholders can be used together, which will increase the cooperation between the public, university, and private sector in the context of the Green Deal and sustainable climate initiatives. As Toros Tarım, we will contribute to the project carried out by our R&D Manager Didem Tümük, which is of great importance in terms of using common infrastructures, acquiring academic output and commercial products with high added value, with our 'Development of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms' project together with valuable academicians from Erciyes University and Çukurova University. On the Tekfen Agriculture side, Deputy R&D Manager Dr. Taner Bozkurt will implement the 'Sustainable Soilless Agricultural Technologies' project in cooperation with Erciyes University and Akdeniz University.”