Cargill Supports Farmers in Sustainable Agriculture Practices

Cargill launched the "1000 Farmers 1000 Prosperity" program at the beginning of this year to increase farmer productivity and welfare. Cargill is expanding the program's scope to contribute to creating a safe and healthy working environment in corn farming in Turkey. In the program conducted with 1,000 farmers engaged in corn farming in Mersin, Adana, Konya, Karaman, Manisa and İzmir, producers will meet with occupational health and safety specialists. Occupational health and safety (OHS) specialists from the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services will also participate in training sessions organized to raise awareness about occupational health and safety and to establish this culture in production. Within the program, which aims to facilitate access to innovative digital tools for farmers and promote welfare-enhancing agricultural practices, producers continue to receive agricultural and technical consultancy from expert agricultural engineers.

Farmers can consult expert agricultural engineers about all kinds of agricultural problems through the 1000 Farmers 1000 Prosperity Advisory Line which they can reach at 444 5 175, and through the Farm Management System online portal they also have the opportunity to manage their fields like a business.

Ergün Can, Head of Department, Occupational Health and Safety General Directorate, Republic of Turkey Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services: "The agricultural sector should be analyzed within a framework of social protection both because of its unique working conditions, different work culture, and the likelihood of encountering sector-specific chemical, physical, hygienic and ergonomic risks and hazards, as well as because of different worker characteristics. According to 2017 Social Security Institution data in our country, out of 155,619 workers in the agricultural sector, 2,761 persons experienced work accidents. When fatal work accidents are analyzed, we know that approximately 32% of accidents resulted from traffic accidents, 13% from work equipment such as tractors and farm machinery, and 10% from falls." Can continued: "With the theory that 98% of work accidents and 100% of occupational diseases can be prevented when necessary measures are taken, work accidents and occupational diseases can be prevented by increasing occupational health and safety awareness in the sector." Dr. Ediz Aksoy, Corporate Relations Director, Cargill Food Middle East, Turkey & Africa, expressed that they were very pleased with the interest received in the first year of the 1000 Farmers 1000 Prosperity program, and that this interest provided great motivation to further develop and continue the program. Aksoy stated that they want to support the social transformation they aim to achieve through the 1000 Farmers 1000 Prosperity program with education and consultancy in various fields, saying: "In the first farmer meetings held at the beginning of the season, we provided financial literacy training to our farmers with the contribution of FODER (Financial Literacy and Access Association). In our second farmer meetings, we want to raise awareness about occupational health and safety in the agricultural sector, where traditional working methods are widely used, protection needs are high, and the rate of identifying hazards and risks is significant."