On October 15, World Women Farmers’ Day, the webinar titled “Empowering Women’s Role in Agriculture” was held in collaboration with Harvard Business Review (HBR) and Tekfen Holding, with contributions from Toros Agriculture. Tülin Akın, co-founder of Tabit Information and Communication Technologies Inc. and a social entrepreneur, also participated in the event.
During the webinar, Tülin Akın was asked questions regarding Smart Agriculture Applications and Technologies, as well as the role of women in the agricultural sector and their entrepreneurial initiatives. Her responses were as follows:
Q: There is a perception in Turkey that farmers are distant from technology. Do you agree with this perception? Especially from a sustainability perspective, what kind of risks does this pose? How do Tabit’s activities affect these areas? What solutions do you offer?
Akın: “Actually, farmers are not distant from technology. They are forced to be distant. Technology requires large financial investments and also demands knowledge and experience from the farmer to use it. Due to high costs and limited usability, farmers understandably do not demand it. Tabit serves as a very effective application field in this regard. This is important because farmers generally learn by seeing. When they see someone else apply it and achieve results, they think, ‘It worked, I can do it too.’ Family farmers, who we call traditional farmers, constitute 80% of global food supply. Only 20% performance in technology applications in agriculture is insufficient. As the Tabit family, we have taken a step. I call it a step because we are still in the early stages of solving a very large problem. We are progressing slowly with small steps, hoping to achieve positive results, and we are already seeing some outcomes.”
Q: As indicated in the first question, not only is agriculture not sufficiently close to technology, but women are also distant from technology. How can we bridge these gaps? How can we bring agriculture, women, and technology closer together?
Akın: “Women working in the sector face health problems, skin burns, and musculoskeletal diseases. Solutions should be developed for these issues and they should be considered as occupational diseases. They should have social security. At this point, making a gender distinction is not accurate. It is more appropriate to look at it from a youth perspective rather than only women or only men. Young people do not see farming as a career or an entrepreneurship opportunity. We need to change this. Young people need to see agriculture as an entrepreneurial career path. Regarding access to technology, new technological investments are needed to solve the basic problems farmers face. These solutions must be accessible, applicable, and affordable. The government should also play a role in facilitating and making these investments attractive. These problems are not just farmers’ problems—they are everyone’s problems. Consumers who eat three meals a day are also affected. If we approach it this way, we can develop sustainable solutions. We can no longer remain indifferent; using technology and technological applications in agriculture is a necessity, as climate conditions give us very clear warnings in this regard.”