As part of the 15th of October International Women Farmers' Day, social entrepreneur Tülin Akın, co-founder of Tabit Bilişim ve İletişim Teknolojileri A.Ş., participated in the Webinar meeting titled "Strengthening the Role of Women in Agriculture" organized by Harvard Business Review (HBR) in cooperation with Tekfen Holding and with the contributions of Toros Tarım.
In her speech, Tülin Akın was asked questions about Smart Agricultural Practices and Technologies and the place and Initiatives of Women in the Agricultural Sector. Akın's answers were as follows:
*There is a perception that farmers in Turkey are far from technology. Do you agree with this perception? What kind of risks does this situation pose, especially from a sustainability perspective? How do TABİT's activities affect these areas? Which solutions does it offer?
Akın: "Actually, the farmer is not far from technology. He has to stay away. Because technology is both an innovation that requires large financial investments and requires knowledge and experience from the farmer to use technology. Due to the high costs and the fact that it is not on a usable scale, the farmer rightly does not demand it. Of course, Tabit is a very good application field in this regard. Why is it so important because the farmer usually applies it by seeing it. He sees it when someone else does it, sees the results, and then says that it has been successful, so let me do it too. Traditional farmers, which we call family farmers, make up 80% of the world's food supply. Technology applications in agriculture are insufficient with only 20% performance. Of course, as the Tabit family, we have taken a step. I say step because we are in the first stage of solving a very big problem. With small steps, we are moving forward in a slow process that we hope to get positive results."
* As you signaled in the first question, not only is agriculture not close enough to technology, but women and technology are not close enough either. How can we close the gaps? How can we bring agriculture, women and technology closer together?
Akın: "Of course, women working in the sector have problems such as health problems, skin burns, skeletal diseases. Solutions should be produced for these and they should be evaluated within the scope of occupational diseases. They should have social security. In fact, at this point, it would be a wrong way of expression to distinguish between men and women. I find it more accurate to say youth rather than looking at it from a singular point of view as only women or only men. Young people do not see farming as a career occupation or entrepreneurship. We need to realize this. Young people need to see agriculture as an entrepreneurship in their careers. In terms of access to technology, new technological investments need to be made to solve these simple problems of farmers. This needs to be accessible, feasible and cost-effective. The state should also take the lead in this regard and make investments attractive. These problems are not only farmers' problems. They are problems for all of us. It is also the problem of the consumer who eats three meals a day. If we approach the issue in this way, we can only produce permanent solutions. We can no longer remain indifferent to this situation, we have to use technology and technological applications in agriculture because climate conditions give us very clear warnings on this issue."
