IMM started distributing free barley and oat seeds to its 'support to Istanbul farmers' services launched in 2020. For the first time in the history of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, barley and oat seeds were distributed to 1.982 farmers with a total cost of 18 million TL. Speaking at the distribution ceremony, IMM President Ekrem İmamoğluHe reminded that he set out with the claim of being the hardest-working and most democratic mayor of Istanbul. “This is a claim. "Making a claim is a good thing," said İmamoğlu, adding, "In today's Turkey, the political understanding that makes the claim about serving its people must win. 'What will I be? Instead of the mentality that says "What will happen to a handful of people?" 'What will happen to our nation? What will be the future of our children? The political understanding that reveals the view of 'What kind of a country will we leave to our young people' and describes a journey on this path is very important. "We must reveal this," he said.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) has added a new one to the supports it started in 2020 to reduce the input costs of Istanbul producers and to win back farmers who have withdrawn from agricultural production. For the first time in the history of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, barley and oat seeds were distributed to 1.982 farmers with a total cost of 18 million TL. The ceremony held at Büyükçekmece Güzelce Covered Market for distribution; CHP Deputy Chairman Gökhan Günaydın, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality President Ekrem İmamoğlu and Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün. Farmers who filled the organized area for the ceremony showed great interest in İmamoğlu, whom they welcomed with applause. At the distribution ceremony, respectively; Soner Yılmaz Ereke, Büyükçekmece Chamber of Agriculture President Sezgin Erçağ, Akgün and İmamoğlu made speeches on behalf of the farmers.
“WE HAVE IMPLEMENTED ONE OF THE SERVICES OF WHICH WE ARE MOST PROUD OF IN ISTANBUL”
Stating that they set out to support farmers who became unable to produce due to the economic crisis, İmamoğlu said:
“At a time when our farmers, deeply affected by the economic crisis, even stopped farming, we asked 'How can we strengthen the agricultural areas of Istanbul? We looked at how we can support our fellow citizens who want to farm and green the lands of Istanbul. And by saying 'We are here', as IMM, we started to support the farmers of Istanbul since 2020. We have implemented one of the services that we are truly proud of in Istanbul. We are truly happy, truly honored and proud. We also thank our agricultural cooperatives, our farmers, who accompany this service process, our very valuable friends who offer this cooperation, our citizens, our very valuable district municipalities and mayors who cooperate with us, and also our members in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, with the professional profession they have given to agriculture in the past. In the presence of all of you, I would like to thank my dear Mr. Gökhan Günaydın, with whom I was together before his appointment and with whom we have woven this process together from the very beginning.”
“WE NOT ONLY PROVIDE SUPPORT TO OUR ISTANBUL FARMERS…”
"Since the day we took office, the process that we started with summer vegetable seedlings and especially similar supports has now continued with the distribution of winter seedling support, from oil sunflower seeds to silage corn seeds, bread wheat seeds," said İmamoğlu, adding, "We are trying not to leave a shortage in any field, from fertilizer to diesel, We have tried to contribute to every detail, from our support to our fishermen to their protective equipment, from lamb fattening feed to bee feed support. We not only provided support to our Istanbul farmers; We made an effort to respond to requests from different parts of Turkey. At the same time, I would like to point out that we are making a diligent effort to contribute to our farmers in the earthquake region, who are going through difficult times. "We tried to strengthen the power of our chambers of agriculture and agricultural development cooperatives by providing machinery and equipment support, just like here today," he said. Underlining that they know that farmers have come to the point of quitting production due to the economic crisis, İmamoğlu said, “We are also trying to support these difficulties. They stop doing agriculture, they stop dealing with the land out of necessity. We took on the responsibility of saying 'stop' to this trend. Today, we are adding a new one to the support we provide and we are distributing barley and oat seeds to 1.982 farmers in Istanbul, at a cost of nearly 20 million lira. "I hope it will be beneficial and auspicious," he said.
