GÜBRETAŞ, a company of Turkey's largest farmer family, Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, has increased its market effectiveness in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, as well as in the countries of the region, with its export move in recent years. GÜBRETAŞ, the pioneer of the chemical fertilizer industry, supports these efforts with activities to popularize conscious agriculture, such as farmer training meetings and model production area applications, organized in cooperation with the Agricultural Supplies Cooperative, the exclusive dealer on the Island, and with the contributions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources. It is expected that productivity above the regional average will be achieved with conscious agricultural practice in the model production areas established in Famagusta and Lefke, under the supervision of GÜBRETAŞ agricultural engineers.

GÜBRETAŞ held an Evaluation Meeting at a hotel in Kyrenia on 13-16 February 2020, with the participation of the central and regional union administrators of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, and also made some visits to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

In this context, Agricultural Credit Cooperatives General Manager and GÜBRETAŞ Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr. Fahrettin Poyraz and GÜBRETAŞ General Manager İbrahim Yumaklı visited Dursun Oğuz, Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in his office. During the visit, in addition to chemical fertilizers, ideas were exchanged on the development of existing common relations in the field of agriculture and new projects that can be realized. In addition, the issue of further expanding the existing cooperation with different steps was discussed.

GÜBRETAŞ Chairman of the Board of Directors Poyraz and General Manager Yumaklı also visited the Agricultural Supplies Cooperative, the leading organization of agricultural production in Northern Cyprus, and wished success to the Chairman of the Board of Directors Abdullah Aktolgalı, who took office last month, and the new management. During the meeting, it was agreed that the cooperation between institutions should be strengthened and possible studies were evaluated.

Making an evaluation about the visit and meeting program, General Manager of Turkish Agricultural Credit Cooperatives and also Chairman of GÜBRETAŞ Board of Directors, Dr. Fahrettin Poyraz said, "As Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, we are very happy and honored to contribute to the development of agriculture in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with GÜBRETAŞ and our other companies. "In addition to meeting the inputs needed by the producers here, we produce economic added values by ensuring that some agricultural products here, especially halloumi cheese, which is the symbol of the Island, are delivered to consumers in Turkey," he said.

Stating that they decided to hold the evaluation meeting of GÜBRETAŞ in Kyrenia this year in order to further strengthen the close cooperation, Poyraz said, "On the occasion of this meeting, we visited our Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of our important stakeholder here, Agricultural Supplies Cooperative. During these very productive meetings, we had the opportunity to discuss issues aimed at increasing our cooperation. "We will continue to contribute to agricultural growth in Northern Cyprus with new studies," he said.

Dr. stated that Cyprus has a meaning beyond commercial activities for GÜBRETAŞ and Agricultural Credit Cooperatives. Fahrettin Poyraz said, "We try to be with farmers always and everywhere in Northern Cyprus, just like in Turkey. It gives us great excitement to provide training to our farmer brothers in Northern Cyprus in the last few years, to raise their awareness about agriculture and to increase the agricultural productivity in these lands. "We will all see the good results of these works in the coming period," he said.

GÜBRETAŞ General Manager İbrahim Yumaklı said, "The majority of the annual fertilizer need in Northern Cyprus, which is around 15 thousand tons, has been met by GÜBRETAŞ products in recent years, in cooperation with the Agricultural Supplies Cooperative."

Pointing out that approximately two-thirds of the total fertilizer consumption in Northern Cyprus is met by GÜBRETAŞ's products that provide high efficiency and quality increase, İbrahim Yumaklı said, "In order to increase our share in this input as well as to support the cooperation in terms of social benefit, we have been providing some fertilizers for agricultural producers in Cyprus for 3 years. We also provide training. This year, we have added a new dimension to these conscious agricultural activities, which we carry out with the valuable support of the TRNC Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, by establishing a model production area at two different points. Every year, we provide productivity increases of up to 50% in the model areas we build in many parts of Turkey. "We believe that we will achieve exemplary yields in the barley cultivation areas in Famagusta and potato model cultivation areas in Lefke, which will be exemplary for farmers in the region," he said.

Referring to the work carried out by GÜBRETAŞ, which has recently taken important steps to transfer the knowledge about conscious agricultural training given to thousands of farmers in Turkey every year to producers in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Yumaklı said, "By disseminating good agricultural practices in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus In order to ensure sustainability in production and to contribute to the cultivation of highly productive and superior quality agricultural products with conscious nutrition, we carry out activities such as taking soil samples from agricultural lands for analysis, creating plant nutrition recipes according to these analysis results, organizing farmer awareness meetings and training in plant growing techniques. "We believe that these studies, which we carry out in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Agricultural Supplies Cooperative, will contribute to the future of agriculture in Northern Cyprus," he said.