THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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PepsiCo Türkiye General Manager Evrim Şen said that they think the food crisis can be prevented by ensuring sustainability in agriculture in a symposium held in Istanbul…
“We are a company whose products are consumed more than 1 billion times a day by consumers around the world. At the same time, we have one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the world. We clearly see and measure the impact we create with our practices that create positive change for agriculture in different countries of the world, especially in Türkiye,” Şen said.
- As PepsiCo Türkiye, you have been hosting the Positive Future in Agriculture Symposium for two years. What is the purpose of this symposium? What motivates you as an institution to take the lead in such an organisation?
“Our main purpose in organising this symposium is to bring together the stakeholders of the agricultural ecosystem and contribute to the generation of holistic solutions through experience sharing. Frankly speaking, we think that the food crisis can be prevented by ensuring sustainability in agriculture. We believe that we can achieve this by protecting soil and water resources, developing regenerative agriculture, improving the conditions of our farmers and agriculture, and using technology for the benefit of agriculture.”
- What do you basically do in agriculture?
“In line with our PepsiCo Positive (pep positive) strategy, we work to create a sustainable food system at every point of our value chain from the field to the end consumer. In 20 cities in the country, we produce approximately 60 per cent of Türkiye’s potato chips on a total area of 5 thousand hectares under contract with more than 200 farmers. Our Agro team, consisting of approximately 300 people, visits the fields of our contracted farmers throughout the year and supports them in the field.”
- Many studies are being carried out in agriculture, but it seems that a real transformation cannot be achieved, especially because there is not much focus on the repair and renewal of the soil. What do you, as PepsiCo, think and do in this regard?
“As PepsiCo, we predict that regenerative agriculture will be the determinant of the next 10 years. With this awareness, we carry out studies in the focus of regenerative agriculture both under the roof of PepsiCo and in cooperation with Anatolian Pastures, a civil initiative.”
70 PER CENT OF WATER IN AGRICULTURE…
Speaking at the panel, Energy and Resource Research Team Leader Can Hakyemez stated that the share of agriculture in water consumption is 70 per cent. Hakyemez said, “In Turkey, according to 2020 data, this rate is around 77 per cent. It corresponds to approximately 45-50 billion cubic metres of water.”
