GÜBRETAŞ, which has made significant contributions to the spread of agricultural education in our country with its conscious agricultural activities, continues to provide examples of productivity increase for producers with its "model production areas" project. The company, which again achieved results above the country and regional average in the applications carried out in 2020, aims to create model production areas for different plants at more points this year.
In GÜBRETAŞ's conscious agriculture dissemination activities, which have been carried out intensively in the last 15 years in order to increase agricultural productivity throughout Turkey, training and agricultural consultancy services continue to be provided to producers on subjects such as soil analysis, conscious plant nutrition, conscious agriculture techniques. GÜBRETAŞ, which uninterruptedly supplied all kinds of chemical fertilizers needed by farmers during the epidemic period, also continued to support farmers with its applications such as a model production area.

Stating that GÜBRETAŞ contributes to agricultural awareness with its projects aimed at spreading the right techniques among producers, General Manager İbrahim Yumaklı said, "As a company, in line with the mission of increasing productivity that we have maintained since our establishment, we provide added value to agriculture with our products and the services we offer to farmers. In this context, our expert agricultural engineers continue to reach producers all over Turkey and provide free agricultural consultancy services through different methods and channels. "We are happy to be with the manufacturer anytime and anywhere with these studies," he said.

HIGH EFFICIENCY INCREASES CONTINUE IN MODEL AREAS

Emphasizing that GÜBRETAŞ is a company that also acts with social benefit responsibility for the development of the country's agriculture, İbrahim Yumaklı said, "We are not satisfied with just developing innovative products and delivering them to producers. "At the same time, we show how it is possible to achieve high efficiency by presenting examples of conscious agriculture through our collaborations with leading producers in different provinces," he said.

In this context, Yumaklı stated that they have rapidly increased the model production area studies, which were carried out in 4-5 places every year until 2017, in the last 3 years and said, "We believe that seeing and showing concrete examples in agriculture provides effective awareness. In recent years, the increasing interest of producers in obtaining information by observing in the field supports this. For this reason, we are increasing the number of model production areas from year to year. "We have increased the GÜBRETAŞ model production areas, which we established in 18 different parts of our country in 2018 and increased the number to 27 in 2019, to 31 in total, with 2 locations in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in addition to 29 locations in our country in 2020, despite the epidemic," he said.

Reminding that they established model production areas for a total of 16 different agricultural products widely grown in our country, from corn to olives, from hazelnuts to sugar beet, in the past year, Yumaklı said that despite the difficulties brought by the epidemic, harvests that made the producers happy were achieved in these trial fields.

In his evaluation of the processes of the project, he said, “All stages of these studies, which we carry out jointly with some producers in different provinces in accordance with the criteria we have determined, are closely followed by GÜBRETAŞ agricultural engineers. General Manager Yumaklı said, "Our agricultural engineers actually provide practical training by informing the producers at every step of the development of the plant in the field, starting from pre-planting until harvest."

Reminding the results obtained above the yield average of Turkey and the region in the model production area applications carried out in 2020, as in previous years, by giving some examples, İbrahim Yumaklı said, "Compared to the yield averages of the leading producers in the region, this year 49% in Siirt peanuts in Siirt and 49% in silage corn in Balıkesir We achieved 52% higher yields, 60% higher yields in the hazelnut harvest in Düzce, 66% higher yields in the sugar beet application in Yozgat, and 117% higher yields in the olive model area in Mersin. When compared to Türkiye's yield averages, these rates are also exceeded. Although different rates are reached depending on the product, region and soil values of the selected land, in general terms, if other factors are suitable, when agricultural production is carried out with conscious methods, at least an average of 25-30 percent productivity increase can be achieved from a land, and these rates sometimes increase up to several times at different points every year. "We continue to demonstrate it with concrete examples," he said.

Stating that they did not hold field and garden day events, which were held with the broad participation of farmers in the region during harvest time in previous years, due to epidemic measures, Yumaklı said, "We prepared films showing the practices and harvest processes we carried out in the trial lands in 2020, and by publishing them on digital media, the results of the sample applications were shared with all producers. we became. "These films about conscious agriculture attract great attention," he said.

PRODUCER INCOME INCREASES WITH EFFICIENCY

Stating that these successful yield results are important in terms of showing the growth potential in the country's agriculture, İbrahim Yumaklı said, “With these model applications, we demonstrate that producer incomes can be increased by obtaining higher yields from all lands across Turkey with optimum input use, if conscious agriculture becomes widespread. "The increase in producer income along with productivity and quality will increase the contribution of agriculture to the country's economy," he said.

Referring to GÜBRETAŞ's model area plans for 2021, General Manager Yumaklı said, "We aim to gradually increase the number of provinces and product diversity in the model production areas project. In this context, our agricultural engineers in the field include provinces such as Isparta, Kayseri, Yalova, Iğdır, Şırnak, Kastamonu and Afyon, where model production area studies have not been carried out before, in the planning and continue to prepare model areas for different products such as garlic, carrots and peanuts, as well as the main agricultural products. . "We intend to continue this role model productivity work at an increasing pace by establishing model production areas at at least 33 locations this year," he said.

“WE ARE PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF SUCH A VALUABLE FAMILY”

Reminding that agriculture and agricultural education have a deep-rooted history in our country, İbrahim Yumaklı said, "As a country, we have a great potential and opportunities in the agricultural sector, whose strategic importance is increasing day by day in terms of meeting the food and nutrition needs of humanity. Halkalı Agricultural School, founded in Istanbul on January 10, 1846, shows the importance given to agricultural education in these lands. On this occasion, as we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the start of agricultural education in our country, we express our respect and gratitude to our farmers who continue to work devotedly for uninterrupted agricultural production, especially during the epidemic. "We are proud to be a member of such a valuable family," he said.