Fikret CENGEL

We are here from the most valuable hills of Turkey. This is Gübretaş’s gold mine built on an area of ​​3 thousand hectares in Bilecik Söğüt. The happy ending in his story, which dates back to the 1980s, was reached in 2020.

During the investigations, 109 tons of gold resources were found in this area. This indicates about 60 tons (1.92 million ounces) of gold reserves. With the investments whose first phase has been completed on this hill, 2.5 tons of gold will be produced annually with the 2nd and 3rd surpluses, which will go with an investment of 500 million. Gübretaş, which is an Agricultural Credit Cooperative establishment, adds value to Turkish farmers, including 800,000 farmers, by producing fertilizers, and now billions of dollars worth of gold, whose lifetime is below, will be brought to the Turkish economy.

Although Agricultural Credit Cooperatives started as a relationship against the increasing culinary environment in recent years, it is on the rise with its market and has been supporting agriculture and Turkish farmers for 160 years.

TKK, which was founded in 1867 by Mithat Pasha, is based on the “Hometown Funds” and today supplies 20 percent of Turkey’s passengers. It provides fertilizers, pesticides and feed to 800 thousand farmer families, meets the needs at home by purchasing products, exports and presents it to its owners as a final product with the investments it has made in the last period.

In the words of TKK General Manager Hüseyin Aydın, TKK is ‘the most institutional structure of the agricultural ecosystem in Turkey’. With the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a meeting with the members of the press after the first gold dumping next to Gübretaş, gave the most up-to-date information about the underground and operations of the TKK. Aydin said:

An end-to-end agricultural ecosystem

The salary received from the national income of agriculture is 5 percent. Agricultural Credit alone gives 20 percent of this 5 percent. We will be the future that will make 30 percent of the national income, which is visited with ongoing and new investments that will come to life, on our own. That’s why we say we manage an ecosystem. We produce with our farmers, who are our 800 thousand partners, and we respond to all needs, especially fertilizers, pesticides and feed. Afterwards, we keep the manufactured product in our licensed warehouses, sell it according to needs, or sell it to the consumer as a final product, which we buy all over Turkey for 3,000 years.

99 percent return on credit sales

With a new application we have introduced, we are producing a disposal system for our farmer’s warranty terms. We provide support in terms of signature up to a certain extent. The higher the rating, the lower the response. We think that we will increase the supply of these.

Today, the return rate of Tarım Kredi’s sales on credit is 99 percent. In fact, we have structured 80 percent of the receivables of the questions in the past years.

TKK markets brought producers and consumers together

We now sell the products obtained by our farmers in our markets. In an average market, there are 1400 secondary products of our own production, 200 of which are the main products. In the short term, the main product protection to the goal increases to 700. In addition to the same product, it is also possible to maintain a variety and price. We have reached 1550 markets, besides, we have 400 sales points and groceries to cooperate. In total, until the end of February, 2750 points will have access to TKK products.

Expensive criticism is unfair

Our markets take on an important mission, especially due to the increasing cost of living in recent years. A price regulation. We took the lead in discounts. We have ensured that everyone’s prices are reduced according to me. However, there are extreme criticisms. 1st class baldo rice sold in our markets is compared with a foreign origin product sold in another market. Now we put those products on the shelves. In addition to the 1st class products of the TK brand, there will be more economical products with the Anadolu brand. It does not lose its price and quality. In total, 600 of 1400 products were sold at the most affordable price in the market. Among these 600 products, we are between 1.5% and 25% cheaper than other markets.

We became Turkey’s market

Markets have been adopted by the citizens, they are in demand. In other words, there are those who criticize me, there is no way to be satisfied with them, but they are citizens. He buys from almost all of them in Turkey. So how does he want it; If you look at the arrest teams, if you look at the geography, if you look at the income group, we have become Turkey’s market, we have such a measurement.

Support for women’s beds

We are opening a shelf of women entrepreneurs in the market of groups of women entrepreneurs who consulted us. Women entrepreneurs make pickled leaves in Tokat, cherry jam in Akşehir and tarhana in Haymana. The number of products is increasing day by day. There are 60-80 products in our markets on average right now. It actually works with nearly 40 cooperatives.

Within the scope of the Koop-Bakkal project, we first established 6 provinces and completed the work of 250 grocery stores. They are selling our products. In February, 540 more grocery stores will be added in 17 provinces and it will reach 790 grocery stores.

Smart market will be activated in Ankara

“We have a big market plan. Again, the focus will be on our products, but we will continue to provide services with cleaning agents, delicatessen and more products and areas. We will open a smart market, the first of which will be in Ankara in February. It is a big market, surrounded by guards, where they can watch the payment from the cash register, with a barcode reader that will know what product is on which shelf. We will try it in Ankara in February. Our growth policy will continue. We will have warehouse investments to reach more with more products to the region and to make it sustainable. We have 16 warehouses. When Tekirdağ and Kayseri are added, we will reach 3500.”

TKK’s 2023 turnover target is 100 billion TL

“Agricultural Credit Cooperative is the common property of 800 thousand farmers. Public resources are not used. He uses equity and loans from banks. Therefore, if we cause harm here, it will not be a public loss, but a loss of the cooperative. After all, there is no harm done. But on the other hand, we bear the public responsibility and we have protection against our 800,000 farmers. Who is my environment? One who sows, who has an animal, who reaps. As Agricultural Credit Cooperative, we are growing with the resources we produce. By the end of 2022, we reached a turnover of 70 billion TL. Our target for 2023 is 100 billion TL.”

Market food consumption 81 percent

Responding to the claims of high filling in the Agricultural Credit Markets, Hüseyin Aydın said, “There were news in the press that it was 256 percent. Ours is lower than the culinary food composition announced by TURKSTAT in Turkey: Percentage is 81. This research covers the dates between December 2021 and December 2022.”

We fixed fertilizer prices for 4 months

“Increasing raw material prices have caused serious series in fertilizer prices. Fertilizer accounts for 15-20 percent of the cost of a product. For our farmers, until April 30, 4 months, fertilizer and feed prices in the world would not be at a price ratio wherever they go. In this way, our farmers have become what they see ahead.”

There may be new purchases

If we find another opportunity like Aynes, you can get it. But we do not say that we are buyers when it comes to going out like this. We make further evaluations or, for those who agree, if there is a very important, poorly operated, underutilized value for the country, we evaluate. We do not have a business to enter a new field such as mining, our first goal is to focus more on our core business.