Governor Pehlivan attended the IPART 3 introductory meeting organized by the Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution (TKDK) Mersin Provincial Coordinatorship at Suphi Öner Teacher’s House. Speaking after the ARDSI promotional video screening, Governor Pehlivan said that they discuss agriculture and an issue related to agriculture almost every week in Mersin. Noting that they also attach importance to monitoring agricultural activities in the area and making some determinations on site, Governor Pehlivan stated that they are making an effort with the relevant units to see and evaluate the problems and expectations in these matters.
Emphasizing that they express the slogan “Wherever our farmers are, we are there too” at every opportunity, Governor Pehlivan said, “Why do we say this? Because our veteran farmers are involved in agricultural activities, including animal husbandry activities, beekeeping activities and fishing activities. They put in their hard work. “They put in effort. They try to produce products and evaluate the products they produce. Our duty is to ensure that this effort put forth on behalf of our state is rewarded,” he said.
“3.6 BILLION LIRA SUPPORT WAS GIVEN TO 486 PROJECTS”
Governor Pehlivan said that the state, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, has a wide range of supports, incentives and projects on behalf of the state, and noted that some of these are national projects and some are international cooperation projects. Emphasizing that TKDK has a special place among these, Governor Pehlivan continued as follows; “Numerous projects have been supported since 2011, when the formation took place. Now, the compass has been expanded and ARDSI projects will be implemented in 81 provinces and throughout our country. To date, more than 25 thousand projects have been implemented, thousands of people have been employed and billions of liras of resources have been used. During this period, Mersin’ IPARD 1 and IPARD 2 projects were implemented in Turkey. During this period, we supported a total of 486 projects. Some of them are still in progress, but almost all of them have been implemented. 3.6 billion lira. A significant part of this, as you know, grants may vary from project to project. There is a grant support of between 50 and 70 percent, with separate additional points being given to our young people under the age of 40, and the grant support is proportionally high for projects carried out by women and young people. A total investment volume of 3.6 billion was created, mostly grant-based. And with these investments, we have employed approximately 5 thousand people and 5 thousand citizens. This is also a very important figure. “We have provided 5 thousand additional jobs throughout our city, especially at the points where these projects are produced, developed and implemented.”
’45 BILLION TL GRANT SUPPORT WAS PROVIDED FOR MORE THAN 25 THOUSAND PROJECTS’
ARDSI Presidency Internal Audit Coordinator Mesut Ekmekçi said in his speech that, as an institution, they have contributed to increasing their income levels and job opportunities by providing economic support to people living in rural areas in the investments they have dreamed of since 2011. Ekmekçi informed that the IPARD programs, which have been implemented in 42 provinces to date, will now be implemented throughout the country with the IPARD 3 period, and said, “The sustainable development of the agriculture and food sectors in our country, within the scope of compliance with European Union standards regarding criteria such as food safety, food reliability and animal welfare of our agricultural enterprises, will be implemented in 81 provinces.” I would like to share here that we will support our investors in all areas. Since the day we set out as TKDK, we have supported more than 25 thousand businesses with IPARD support, which are highly competitive, use the widest range of technologies, and produce not only domestically but also for export. “With the 45 billion TL grant support we provided to the project, we brought approximately 100 billion TL worth of investment to our country, and thanks to these investments, we created more than 100 thousand jobs.”
Pointing out that production should be diversified and increased, Ekmekçi said, “We consider it as a versatile field with many parameters such as the development and modernization of our livestock sector, the growth of local sub-industries, increasing employment and keeping the rural population in place. In this context, it is fully compatible with the policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.” I would like to emphasize that we will contribute to the IPARD program with an agricultural policy that ensures efficiency, sustainability and registered production, in line with the production planning of our ministry throughout our country. On the other hand, we will continue to contribute to the development of many sectors, especially with the multiplier effect at the local level, and to develop the agriculture-based industry. “We will provide more support to our people living and producing in our rural areas in order to produce and process on-site,” he said.
In his speech, TKDK Mersin Provincial Coordinator Beytulllah Uygur gave information about the IPARD projects they have been carrying out since 2011. Uygur emphasized that Mersin is among the provinces that benefited most from IPARD projects.
Following the speeches, checks were given to investors who were entitled to sign contracts within the scope of IPARD. (iha)
