The Central Anatolia Region Stakeholder Meeting of the "Identification of Nitrate Sensitive Regions and Preparation of Action Plans" Project was held on 29 March 2022 at Konya Bera Hotel with the participation of the General Directorate of Agricultural Reform, experts from provincial and district directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, farmer unions, chambers of agriculture, non-governmental organizations and private sector representatives from Konya, Ankara, Karaman, Aksaray, Niğde.
In the project, in which cooperation was made with many universities across the country, TÜBİTAK MAM, Konya Selçuk University academicians gave information about the studies carried out and agricultural pollution, nitrate sensitive areas, nitrate action plans.
The meeting started on March 29, 2022 with opening speeches. Opening speeches were made by TÜBİTAK MAM President Advisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selma Ayaz, Konya Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Ali Ergin, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry DG TRGM Deputy Director General Dr. Metin Türker.
The keynote speakers stated that the identification and control of diffuse pollutants, which have a great impact on pollution, is extremely important for the improvement and protection of the quality of water resources, and that the widespread agricultural and livestock activities in our country increases the necessity of taking these pollutants into account. In this context, it was stated that very important studies are carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to protect our water resources against agricultural pollution.
In the agenda of the meeting, presentations were made on "Control and Management of Agricultural Pollution" by Yusuf Gürbüz, MAF GDAR Working Group Officer, "Determination of Nitrate Sensitive Regions" by Dr. Cihangir Aydöner on behalf of TÜBİTAK MAM Project Team, "Preparation of Nitrate Action Plans and Benefit-Cost Analysis" by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mert Dedeoğlu from Selçuk University and TÜBİTAK MAM Lead Researcher Dr. Burcu Kıran.
The meeting was concluded by taking stakeholders' questions and suggestions.
The project, supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF), General Directorate of Agricultural Reform (GDAR) and implemented by TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM), started in 2018 and will be completed in June 2022. In the project, determination of Nitrate Sensitive Areas, which are defined as areas that are contaminated in terms of nitrate and/or likely to be contaminated in the near future, implementation of region-specific selected measures in these regions according to the "Good Agricultural Practice Code" document given in the annex of the communiqué, and cost-benefit analysis of the measures to be implemented were carried out.
