BBM Magazine 80 - September 2024

BBM • SEPTEMBER - EYLÜL 2024 44 Ayşe Ayşin Işıkgece: Agriculture is like an open-air factory. It’s not like producing detergent in a controlled environment. Therefore, it’s exposed to all kinds of risks. You’re producing in an environment that’s vulnerable to extreme natural events like hail, rain, and wind—events that can go beyond any prediction and that you can’t control. So, if you plant a certain amount of chickpeas today, will you get that amount tomorrow? It’s a big question mark. You might end up with more, or you might end up with much less. Since the topic has come up, I’ll share my thoughts. I’m 56 years old, and the reality today is worlds apart from those days where we used to keep saying we are a self-sufficient coun- try. A lot has changed since then. Back in our day, imports and exports weren’t as significant, the population wasn’t as large, and we produced and consumed mostly within our own bor- ders. Was tourism as big back then? Did we travel as much? Did people come to Türkiye as much? Were migrations this prevalent? Population growth, migrations, tourism, along with imports and exports… All impact a country’s production capac- ity. We rank 31st in the world in terms of the size of agricultural land—we’re not a huge country. So saying, “I’m going to export in textiles, but I’ll produce 100% of my cotton myself. I’ll be 100% self-sufficient in sunflower, chickpeas, wheat, and everything else. Everything will be perfect. Tourism will thrive. Exports will flourish,”—it’s simply not mathematically feasible. Here’s another point. If a particular soil is best suited for grow- ing cotton according to analysis results, planting something else in that soil will result in costly production. Therefore, you should grow cotton where cotton is meant to be grown, wheat where wheat is meant to be grown, and sunflower where sunflower is meant to be grown. If you claim you will be self-sufficient in everything, there’s no mathematical basis for that. Being num- ber one in all exports, attracting high-quality tourists, managing migrations, and being self-sufficient in every aspect—such a scenario is simply not feasible. But the situation with legumes is different. If we can promote legume cultivation more widely across the country, particularly in the fallow lands that benefit from crop rotation by enriching the soil with nitrogen, we would achieve multiple benefits. It would create a second source of income for producers, reduce our dependence on imports, and enrich the soil with nitrogen through legumes. We can enhance this with better planning. Achieving complete self-sufficiency in every crop is a challeng- ing goal. However, self-sufficiency in strategic products is one of the most critical priorities for a country, especially for its self- defense. I’m not saying we should be self-sufficient in avocados or dragon fruit. THE KEY ROLE OF WOMEN IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURE Ms. Işıkgece, I’d like to discuss the issue of rural develop- ment. The rural areas are in need of development, but there are so many different approaches being tried. Some focus on women, others on youth, and some say, “If we do it this ekilmesi gereken alanda pamuk, buğday yapılması gereken yerde buğday, ayçiçek olması gereken yerde ayçiçek yapacak- sınız. Eğer ben hepsine birden yeteceğim derseniz böyle bir matematik yok. Hem ihracatta her şeyde bir numara olacağım, hem çok iyi turist gelecek, hem göçler olacak ve ben hem de her konuda kendi kendime yeterli olacağım. Böyle bir şey yok. Ama bakliyat kısmı farklı, aslında münavebe dediğimiz na- dasa bırakılan toprakların azot açısından zenginleşmesi adına bakliyat ekilişini ülkede daha fazla yaygınlaştırırsak üretici için hem ikinci bir gelir kaynağı yaratmış hem de dışa bağımlılığımı- zı azaltmış, hem de toprağa bakliyatlar sayesinde azot kazan- dırmış oluruz. Dolayısıyla bunu daha iyi planlamayla arttırabili- riz. Dolayısıyla her üründe dört dörtlük kendimize yeteceğiz işi zor bir konu. Ama stratejik ürünlerde kendi kendine yeterlilik konusu bir ülkenin en önemli başlıklarından birisidir. Yani kendi kendini savunması adına. Ben avokadoda kendi kendimize ye- terli olalım, ejder meyvesinde yeterli olalım demiyorum. TARIMDA KIRSALIN KALKINABİLMESİNİN ANAHTAR ROLÜ KADIN Ayşin Hanım kırsal kalkınma konusuna gelmek istiyo- rum. Aslında kalkınmaya muhtaç bir yer kırsal. Ama çok şey deneniyor. Kimi kadını öne koyuyor, kimi gençleri koyu- yor bir yere, kimi diyor ki öyle yapsak olur. Yani bu işin bir matematiği var mı? Uygulanabilir mi? Ben bunu gerçekten merak ediyorum. Sizin bu konudaki düşüncelerinizi öğre- nebilir miyiz?