Agricultural Summit at Manisa Chamber of Commerce

Sadık Özkasap, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Manisa Commodity Exchange, discussed the agriculture of Manisa with the delegation from Manisa Metropolitan Municipality that he hosted. Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Secretary General Burak Deste, along with Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Agriculture Consultant Yusuf Kurucu and Strategy Department Head Evrim Akman, visited Sadık Öz Kasap, the President of Manisa Commodity Exchange. During the visit, Ali Yılmaz, the Vice President of the Board of Manisa Commodity Exchange, Mehmet Ersaygı, a member of the Board of Directors of Manisa Commodity Exchange, and Agricultural Engineer Özlem Çetin from Manisa Commodity Exchange were also present. Manisa Metropolitan Municipality and Manisa Commodity Exchange will collaborate on the preparation of the Manisa Agriculture Inventory to determine the cultivated and uncultivated agricultural areas of Manisa. Burak Deste, the Secretary General of Manisa Metropolitan Municipality, expressed that cooperation will be established with stakeholder institutions and organizations that influence agriculture in Manisa for updating the city’s agricultural potential and creating an inventory. Deste emphasized that current cultivated agricultural areas and currently uncultivated vacant areas in Manisa will be recorded through aerial photographs taken with the help of the Göktürk Satellite. Emphasizing Manisa’s current water potential during the visit, Sadık Özkasap, the President of Manisa Commodity Exchange, expressed the negative effects of climate change on water resources, stating, ‘As agricultural irrigation has the largest share of water use in Turkey, even the smallest improvement in this area will directly reduce the amount of water consumed. Closed-loop, sprinkler, and drip irrigation methods can be used for more efficient irrigation. In general, compared to traditional irrigation methods, water consumption is 70% and 90% less in sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation methods, respectively. With a closed-loop irrigation system, cooperatives will not need to drill wells. With a closed-loop irrigation system, more land can be irrigated with less water. This method will save 4 times more water. Water, which flows at 50 liters per second, decreases to 30 liters due to evaporation in an open system. The water loss is significant.’ Özkasap also emphasized the importance of using treated and recycled water for agricultural irrigation in Manisa.