Minister Kirişci said, “We saw that technology does not feed us. We have seen that some artificial formations do not feed us. The main thing is our food and it is the agricultural sector that produces this food. Food security is no different from national security."
“WE WILL FEED OUR OWN PEOPLE FIRST: FLOUR, OIL, SUGAR STRATEGIC PRODUCTS”
“We all need to remember the definition of strategic product. These are flour, oil and sugar. Grain, oilseeds and sugar beet, from which they are obtained and the main ingredient to them. These are very indispensable and vital products for us. Moreover, these products are also important for the feed industry,” said Minister Vahit Kirişci, and added:
“We also make use of their meat, milk and eggs by feeding the fodder to these animals. Therefore, we will focus on these products and highlight them. We will not neglect our other products, we will support them as well. Agriculture is not primarily an activity to feed the people of another country. We will feed our own people first. We will meet the food, shelter and clothing needs of our own people.”
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Prof. Dr. Vahit Kirişci stated that the agriculture sector cannot be substituted with any other sector and said, “We saw that technology does not feed us. We have seen that some artificial formations do not feed us. The main thing is our food, and it is the agricultural sector that produces this food. Food security is no different from national security.”
Minister Kirişci came to Adana in the morning for a series of visits. Kirişci, who visited Adana Governor's Office, first signed the book of honor. Making statements afterwards, Minister Kirişci stated that he was happy to be in Adana, the capital of agriculture. “This is our hometown. We visited our hometown with different titles and occasions. After becoming a minister, we decided that it would be right and prudent to make our first visit to Adana, the capital of agriculture. I hope we will stay here tonight and tomorrow we will attend the Agriculture Fair in Konya,” Kirişci added.
Saying that Adana deserves the best of everything, Kirişci said, “Adana is a city that deserves the best and the most beautiful in every respect. During this period of our service, we will make efforts to raise our Adana to a better level. We have already started to take some steps regarding Adana. Let's make these promises to make them come true. Because the main thing is the state and the beloved nation. It is our sole duty and responsibility to serve this state and our beloved nation.”
“WAR HAS REACHED THE SIZE THAT IMPACTS THE GLOBAL”
Referring to the war between Russia and Ukraine, “We can no longer see it as a war between the two countries. This has reached a dimension that completely affects the global. This once again showed us the indispensability of food, food security and the agricultural sector that provides it, and that it is a sector that cannot be substituted with any other sector. Let our world relax, calm down, everyone be happy, but we also evaluate our own producers’ great effort and sweat of reason better,” Minister Kirişci added.
“FOOD SAFETY IS NOT DIFFERENT FROM NATIONAL SECURITY”
Minister Vahit Kirişci talked about the importance of the agriculture sector and continued as follows:
“The agriculture sector is a very important sector. Those who thought that it was possible to replace the agricultural sector with other sectors realized that they were very wrong. We have seen that technology does not feed us. We have seen that some artificial formations do not feed us. The main thing is our food, and it is the agricultural sector that produces this food. Food security is no different from national security. We also express our gratitude to Turkish farmers for food safety, which is equivalent to national security. Good thing we have them. With the sweat of their foreheads and minds, these beautiful products contribute not only to 85 million people in our country, but also to our refugees in the country, to tourists who are more than 50 million people to spend their holidays in our country, and when we export these beautiful products, they contribute to the relevant people in those countries. The farmers and producers of this country who delivers these products are. I hope we will take steps to enable these producers to be in closer contact with their fields, gardens, poultry houses and barns in the new production season,” he said.