Organized by the Turkish Food and Sugar Industry Workers' Union (Şeker-İş), the summit titled ‘The Future of Food is in Our Hands’ will start on Friday. Making statements to our newspaper about the summit, Şeker-İş Chairman İsa Gök reminded that they are faced with a food crisis as a result of the developments in the world and said, "We will hold the summit in order to continue the cultivation of the products grown in the soil and to bring the strategic importance of food to the public agenda." Pointing out that there is a food crisis in the world as a result of the events, Gök underlined that they aimed to create an agenda in the public opinion regarding this issue with the summit, and added, “We are going through a period in which hunger, misery, wars are rampant in the world and the importance of food is understood with the pandemic. We are holding this summit to raise awareness about the need for more cultivation of soil-grown products, to draw attention to waste and to ensure food accessibility for all. We aim to share issues related to beet sugar, which has an important position in the strategic importance of food, and sugar production, which is strategic, as well as new trends.”
GÖK: “WE AIM TO HELP BUILD HEALTHY POLICIES”
Pointing out that there are problems in the field of food in Turkey as well as in the world, Gök underlined the importance of establishing healthy policies against problems in Turkey and said, “With the summit, the importance of food on Turkey's agenda, the harms of waste and against the crisis in the world to ensure that Turkey does not experience any problems, we aim to help creating healthy policies.”
THERE ARE COUNTRIES TARGETING 1 MILLION EMPLOYMENTS WITH SUGAR BEET WASTE
Stating that zero waste policies in food production and consumption have come into effect in many countries around the world, Gök stated that they aim to introduce zero waste policies in Turkey and added, "We can see an example of zero waste policy in the production of sugar from beets. Countries can use their residues in many fields after producing sugar from beet. Thus, production continues without leaving any waste. We are faced with a Europe that targets 1 million jobs only for the waste from sugar beet production. We want to raise issues like this one."
GÖK: “IT IS A MUST FOR TURKEY TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT COUNTRIES AGAIN”
Reminding that Turkey was a self-sufficient country in the field of agriculture in the past, Gök stated that Turkey should become a self-sufficient country again against the crises in the world and said, “When we look at the latest developments in the world, with the effects of the war with Russia and Ukraine, the price increases in food all over the world is triggered. Our Turkey has its advantages, if we can cultivate our lands in a healthy way and make our plans on how to plant and irrigate in a healthy way, we were the ones who were self-sufficient yesterday and we can be self-suffiecient today. Turkey needs to reach the level of a self-sufficient country again.”