ICE launches the "Soil and the Children" programme
The "Soil and the Children" programme developed by İzmir Commodity Exchange (ICE) in cooperation with the Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Provincial Directorate of National Education and the Faculty of Education of Ege University in order to explain and show the value of soil to children and raise more healthy and conscious generations was launched in the Research, Application and Production Farm of Ege University on Friday, 5 May 2017.
In the launching organization that was attended by Cumhur Güven Taşbaşı, deputy governor of İzmir, Ömer Yahşi, İzmir provincial director of National Education, Işınsu Kestelli, chairperson of the ICE, Barış Kocagöz, president of the Assembly, Ercan Korkmaz, deputy chairperson of the Board of Directors, Ömer Gökhan Tuncer, deputy chairperson of the Assembly, board member Derya Pala, Ahmet Güldal, provincial director of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Bolca, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture of Ege University and many other guests, the project was introduced, and following the opening speeches, seeds of various agricultural products were sown and saplings were planted.
Having thrown the opening speech of the organization, Mr. Ercan Korkmaz, deputy chairperson of the ICE, said, "Although the share of agriculture in economy is 1% in the European Union, the EU countries have been subjecting children to various courses on agriculture for a long time to keep them in agriculture. We must take more steps in order to shed light on the bright future of Turkish agriculture and animal husbandry sectors as a country where the share of agriculture in the overall economy is around 8%. Therefore, raising future generations that are conscious of the importance of the soil, agriculture and environment is more important than ever. Growing of lettuce by NASA, which intensifies its studies on agriculture in space as much as on intelligent agriculture, in the space last year clearly indicates that the limit in agriculture in the future will be the sky. Please bring the farmers who produce in space before your eyes. Our target should be to raise children who will say "I want to be an astronaut farmer" when asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?". With this target on our mind, as an institution that have served our country's agricultural sector for 126 years, we decided to launch this programme in order to keep and raise our children in agriculture."
Deputy Governor of İzmir, Mr. Cumhur Güven Taşbaşı said, "Our cities are growing very fast and the areas where our children can meet and play with nature are gradually diminishing. To this end, we congratulate İzmir Commodity Exchange, which has launched the project for children to meet with soil and agriculture, and hope that other chambers and commodity exchanges also support such projects. Soil is the future for all of us, we all should know its value."
Provincial Director of National Education of İzmir, Mr. Ömer Yahşi said, "We are very excited by the project developed by İzmir Commodity Exchange. We find this project very valuable in terms of the creation of opportunities for our students in İzmir to get to know the soil and plant seeds and saplings. We are always ready to support such projects to spread such opportunities to all schools we can reach."
İzmir Provincial Director of Agriculture, Mr. Ahmet Güldal said, "This project is of great importance in terms of bringing children together with the soil and ensuring that they know where the products grow and which processes they go through. Children will thus know what efforts have been made to grow the fruits and vegetables they eat and they will appreciate their value better."
Following the opening speeches, ICE chairperson Mrs. Işınsu Kestelli and guests took to the farm land with the primary school students to sow seeds and plant saplings of various agricultural products such as turnip, onion, tomatoes, pepper etc.
The project that was launched with the slogan, "Soil is the future, our soil is in safe hands" aims to bring children, who are the future of our country, together with nature, help them discover the agriculture and make sure they attach the necessary importance and attention to the environment.
08.05.2017
