Agriculture to be saved with plans
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Anatolia News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 09, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Prepared with the cooperation of the World Wildlife Fund Turkey and Turkish food company Eti to raise awareness on the effects of climate change on agricultural fields, the project includes scientific modeling and created scenarios
The World Wildlife Fund Turkey has returned with a new project to raise awareness on climate change and its effects on agriculture in cooperation with Turkish food company Eti.
The project, "Turkey’s Tomorrows," was promoted Thursday with the attendance of WWF Turkey’s Board Chairman Akın Öngör, General Manager Filiz Demirayak and Head of the Marketing Group of Eti Şule Atabey Şamlı.
Öngör said that climate change was perceived as a reality. According to her, thoughtless spending and consumption without production caused the economic crises. Underlining the importance of raising public awareness, Öngör said to prevent climate change one of the things that had to be done was to reduce greenhouse gases by increasing the cost of producing carbon emissions. "Those who produce greenhouse gases such as carbon should be punished with fines. And the money should be used in various areas such as employment," Öngör said.
Recalling a similar cooperation between WWF Turkey and Eti Burçak for the project of modern irrigation in the Konya basin, from February to December last year, had been completed, Demirayak said it aimed to encourage a smarter usage of water resources. The project that was held in Konya basin’s Çumra and Beyşehir areas also targeted raising awareness of farmers and for them to be informed about modern irrigation techniques and water resource management.
Within the project they tried drip and sprinkler irrigation systems in four different pilot areas to grow sugar beet and wheat in Çumra and Beyşehir, where agricultural production is high. Water consumption decreased 50 percent, which equates to a saving of 24 million liters of water. The amount of water that was saved is also equal to what a 4-member family would use in 110 years.
Climate effects
With the latest project supported by the company and WWF, the effects of climate on agriculture in Turkey will be examined.
Demirayak said there was going to be climate related scenarios created for the years 2015, 2030 and 2050 and the evaluation of a variety of goods in the Konya basin and East Mediterranean basin would be made.
There will be scientific modelling based on results of what the basins, considered Turkey’s food bowl, will face because of climate change. Within the project the changes in rainfall and evaporation will be specified for the coming years and this will lead to the results of what will change in the agriculture sector for the following year.
The climate scenarios will be prepared with the support of Istanbul Technical University, or İTÜ. The second leg of the project foresees the activities to reveal what effects climate change will have on agricultural production with the cooperation of Denmark Hydraulic Institute.
We are going to disclose the effect of climate change and at the same time with the climate modelling we will release a report on how the Konya and Göksü basins’ wetlands and biological diversity will be affected, Demirayak said. He added that these presumptions would make the struggle towards climate change easier. The results of the project will be shared with the public by the end of autumn. They will also prepare an education program comprised of booklets and CD for farmers and irrigation officers to be informed about modern irrigation techniques. They will be distributed around Turkey but mostly in Konya, Aksaray, Isparta and Karaman.
"We give importance to awareness projects," Şamlı said and added: "During the project in the Konya basin we have learnt how serious and important the region’s problems are because we experienced it."
The project, "Turkey’s Tomorrows," was promoted Thursday with the attendance of WWF Turkey’s Board Chairman Akın Öngör, General Manager Filiz Demirayak and Head of the Marketing Group of Eti Şule Atabey Şamlı.
Öngör said that climate change was perceived as a reality. According to her, thoughtless spending and consumption without production caused the economic crises. Underlining the importance of raising public awareness, Öngör said to prevent climate change one of the things that had to be done was to reduce greenhouse gases by increasing the cost of producing carbon emissions. "Those who produce greenhouse gases such as carbon should be punished with fines. And the money should be used in various areas such as employment," Öngör said.
Recalling a similar cooperation between WWF Turkey and Eti Burçak for the project of modern irrigation in the Konya basin, from February to December last year, had been completed, Demirayak said it aimed to encourage a smarter usage of water resources. The project that was held in Konya basin’s Çumra and Beyşehir areas also targeted raising awareness of farmers and for them to be informed about modern irrigation techniques and water resource management.
Within the project they tried drip and sprinkler irrigation systems in four different pilot areas to grow sugar beet and wheat in Çumra and Beyşehir, where agricultural production is high. Water consumption decreased 50 percent, which equates to a saving of 24 million liters of water. The amount of water that was saved is also equal to what a 4-member family would use in 110 years.
Climate effects
With the latest project supported by the company and WWF, the effects of climate on agriculture in Turkey will be examined.
Demirayak said there was going to be climate related scenarios created for the years 2015, 2030 and 2050 and the evaluation of a variety of goods in the Konya basin and East Mediterranean basin would be made.
There will be scientific modelling based on results of what the basins, considered Turkey’s food bowl, will face because of climate change. Within the project the changes in rainfall and evaporation will be specified for the coming years and this will lead to the results of what will change in the agriculture sector for the following year.
The climate scenarios will be prepared with the support of Istanbul Technical University, or İTÜ. The second leg of the project foresees the activities to reveal what effects climate change will have on agricultural production with the cooperation of Denmark Hydraulic Institute.
We are going to disclose the effect of climate change and at the same time with the climate modelling we will release a report on how the Konya and Göksü basins’ wetlands and biological diversity will be affected, Demirayak said. He added that these presumptions would make the struggle towards climate change easier. The results of the project will be shared with the public by the end of autumn. They will also prepare an education program comprised of booklets and CD for farmers and irrigation officers to be informed about modern irrigation techniques. They will be distributed around Turkey but mostly in Konya, Aksaray, Isparta and Karaman.
"We give importance to awareness projects," Şamlı said and added: "During the project in the Konya basin we have learnt how serious and important the region’s problems are because we experienced it."