Interview with Victor Ananias, Chairman of the Board Bugday

The first step taken by the Bugday organisation in its pursuit of a healthy production-consumption network was in 1990 when it started the street market in the Mediterranean holiday resort of Bodrum. Since then many steps and initiatives have been undertaken to create a national and international network to promote organic farming and the marketing of products in Turkey and abroad. Organic-Market.Info spoke with Victor Ananias, Chairman of the Board of Bugday, about the potential of organics and the challenges they face in Turkey. (picture: Victor Ananias)
Victor, Turkey has ambitious aims to promote organic production, a national market and exports. It is anticipated that by 2012 organic agriculture will grow from 0.8 to 3 %, the national market from 5 to 50 million US-dollars and exports from 150 million to 1 billion US- dollars. Are these figures realistic?

That is correct. We have great determination, and ambitious goals have been set by corporate, governmental and civil organizations. Our national organic agriculture committee consists of around 35 members from all three types of organisation and they have in the recent years prepared the national action plan to comply with that vision. We enjoy considerable advantages and strengths that will enable us to reach those goals sooner or later. But at the same time we also know that the rapid shift of our population from the countryside to the cities has weakened our society’s cooperation skills. That presents us with a problem. This is the only serious handicap that may cause some delay in reaching our set goals in organic farming. But I am hopeful, because we are not so far away from the roots, from the culture of cooperation, healthy diets, fairness in trade and sustainable production. All these are still not so distant for our present generation; we still know the feeling, the taste of these things. So it is not so easy to judge the figures, but for me they are realistic if we all believe in them. What is certainly correct is the direction, although the time-lines may change.

A great challenge is the lack of legislation. What is the latest news on this? Is the government working on this issue?

To tell the truth, the Turkish government has done a lot in terms of legislation - we were one of the earliest countries to apply regulation and law in organic agriculture. The only handicap was that our legislation was exclusively export oriented, because organic used to be based on exporting. But with the help of organisations like us, members of the national guidance committee now have more or less adapted regulations both to the local conditions and to comply with EU legislation. We don’t have more trouble than any other European country at the legislative level but that of course does not necessarily mean that everything works in practice all over the country. Basic control and certification activities and labelling work OK but we don’t have a proper clear standard translated into the language of farmers in a producer-friendly way.

Which interest groups are important for the successful development of organic agriculture and the market in Turkey?

Our farmers are more or less experienced, mostly small-size and used to labour- intensive production, which means they are very close to organic production, if not already there. Also, as I mentioned, the government is doing enough at the legislative level, so some cheap credit is available and there are higher direct payments to organic producers too. Agricultural inputs are more and more available on the market. There are 14 control and certification bodies. Turkish consumers are the only and most important interest group, they are the actors in the development of domestic and foreign markets.

What has already been achieved? Where can consumers buy organic products in Turkey? Tell us about Bugday´s commitment.

Up to 5-6 years ago domestic consumption of organic certified production in Turkey was less than 1 %. Our organisation supported and helped to organise all the first specialised shops, wholesale systems, community-supported agricultural systems and box schemes, but we were not really very successful until we decided to set up the first 100 % organic marketplaces. Around five years ago, we lobbied our parliament for change to the municipal law on the fresh fruits and vegetables act that does not allow producers to sell their products in the cities, a law which is still the same now for conventional farmers. After some time we got the law changed to the advantage of organic producers, and they have become the only party permitted to bring and sell their fresh produce in our cities. As a result we came to an agreement and achieved cooperation first with the Municipality of Sisli Istanbul (picture), then Samsun on the Black sea and Antalya on the Mediterranean and we launched the first three marketplaces over the last three years. Since their launch they have been running very successfully. They are now the engines of the domestic market. Consumers’ real strength is understood, because thousands of families cover their weekly needs with organic produce from these marketplaces, with our organisation giving a guarantee of product variety, certification and prices controlled and regulated at not more than 30 % higher than for conventional products. So the most important interest group is the consumer. Since it was set up 18 years ago, Bugday has also been operating its holistic approach at all levels - political, educational, international and network building.

Big conventional companies are also committed to bringing organic products forward. Who are the important players?

We have several male and female entrepreneurs who have made big investments in organic production in various regions. Some of them are:
Gursel Tonbul, an entrepreneur, a former teacher who now owns a tour company in Kusadasi. With her 300 hectares of mixed organic farm and factory she supports the regional development of organic production.
Aydin Dogan is one of the current media bosses in our country. He started a dairy farm in the east near his home town Kelkit Gumushane and now has over 1,000 animals producing high quality milk that is sold all over the country under the Pinar brand.
Hidir and Enis Oktay are father and son who own an electrical engineering company. They rented a 300 ha farm from the government on Gokceada, which is Turkey’s largest island in the Aegean Sea. This farm has a dairy factory producing cheese, yoghurt and ayran as well as many other fresh products and olive oil.
Semih and Neylan Dinler are a couple who first started olive oil production on the Mediterranean coast before recently building a factory in Istanbul. They have contracted many producers and they manufacture 35 different organic cosmetics and 55 foods from a variety of materials sourced all over the country. All the ingredients, essential oils and base oils for the cosmetic products are produced in the factory itself.
A much higher level of investment and research has been undertaken - especially in the last 5 years – and the figures are continuing to rise.

German organic product buyers only know figs and raisins from Turkey, but I think there are many more organic products for export. Where do you see the biggest potential?

We have been exporting large volumes of organic dried apricots, hazelnuts, cotton, rose oil, almonds, lentils, chickpeas, oregano, fruit concentrates and juices for more than 25 years. Even though we are in general the biggest exporter of these products, we still have a lot of special traditional products, ready made value-added foods such as wild pistachio coffee, fruit pastes, tarhana soup, cosmetics from our wild and cultivated medicinal plants, oil seeds, etc. Nowadays, new investment is going into research and development of new products and product lines both for export and the domestic market.