Proposal to Introduce an Organic Chemistry Course in Schools

Worldwide, the pandemic has driven demand toward healthy, quality and reliable food and textile products. This, combined with the current state of climate change, is forcing rapid growth in the organic sector and increasing organic awareness among the public. Birol Celep, Chair of the Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association, stated that the most important factor for expanding and promoting organic production in Turkey is increased organic farming support and timely announcement of such measures.  

"Will contribute to the goal of 25 percent of production areas being organic"

Speaking at the "Organic Farming Sector Meeting" in Izmir, the capital of organic production, where all parties in the Turkish organic sector gathered, Celep assessed the prominent issues and stressed that alongside increased and timely announcement of organic sector support, the demand for introducing organic lessons in schools to boost organic product consumption in Turkey emerged as a key point. Emphasizing the difficulty of changing consumption habits in adults, Celep said: "As the Turkish organic sector, we want an 'Organic lesson' that explains the benefits of organic products to children to be incorporated into school curricula. We are requesting cooperation with the Ministry of National Education to teach organic farming in schools so that organic awareness grows among children." Drawing attention to the fact that consumption habits are formed in childhood, Celep continued: "Increased consumption of organic products will strengthen our sector and will make a significant contribution to raising healthy generations. Through this, Turkey's healthcare budget expenditure will decrease. Cooperation with the Ministry of National Education will also contribute to proper understanding of the distinction between organic, ecological, natural and other labels, and will prevent consumer deception." Emphasizing the need for more effective monitoring of organic markets and proper shelf placement of organic products to enhance consumer awareness, Chair Celep summarized other key points as follows: "Measures must be taken in water-scarce regions, youth outmigration from agriculture must be prevented, incentive programmes must encourage continued production, organic seed producers and growers must be linked through a database, support for organic beekeeping and apitherapy products must be increased, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry must provide greater support for R&D activities, pastures must be converted to organic status—this change will also contribute to the EU Green Deal target of 25 percent of production areas being organic. Small producers serving the domestic market should receive positive discrimination in support measures."