Anadolu Etap Published Its Sustainability Report
Turkey's largest fruit growing and fruit juice processing company Anadolu Etap publicized its sustainability report that it has implemented in line with the economic, environmental, and social sustainability principles. With its export volume of fresh fruit and fruit juice reaching 65 percent, the company continued the ecosystem it established in the Covid-19 outbreak without interruption, and included the practices it implemented in the Covid-19 outbreak in its sustainability report.
Anadolu Etap, operates with the "Healthy Fruits for Healthy Generations" mission, published its sustainability report as of the years 2018-2019. Anadolu Etap has been the pioneering agricultural company which has developed its "Sustainable Agricultural Principles" and integrated them into its business processes, and emphasized once again its focus on sustainability with this second sustainability report prepared in accordance with GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards. The Company which has been carrying out its operations in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG), also signed the United Nations Global Compact this year. Thus, the company continues to contribute to the local economy, agricultural development, and employment owing to a sustainable operational system from farm to table.
"We Continue To Meet The Healthy Nutrition And Food Needs Of Society Without İnterruption"
Anadolu Etap CEO, Bahadır Açık, stated that they also gave place in their reports to the measures they have implemented during the pandemic outbreak. He continued his words; 'With our fresh fruit and juice operations, we meet the healthy nutrition and food needs of not only our country but also wide geography extending from the USA to the Far East. Owing to the 350,000 tons of fruit that we process; we have been serving more than 60 countries. Our responsibility towards our industry, our country, the world, and future generations is greater than ever, both in economic, environmental, and social terms. Based on the awareness of this responsibility, "sustainability" has always been at the heart of our business model since the day we were founded. We have once again understood the importance of our commitment to sustainability with the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been meeting the healthy nutrition and food needs of society without interruption. Our investments in smart agricultural technologies and quality, ensuring continuity in employment and supply chain, and digitizing all our processes with our focus on sustainability have a huge share in our success''.
Investments in Turkey's Economic and Agricultural Future; AgroAcademy and MİÇO
With 8 farms established on 3000 HA of land, 3 fruit juice processing plants, and one packing house Anadolu Etap, together with its over 4 thousand employees, acts as one of Turkey's outstanding employers in the agricultural sector and contributes to the employment and the local economy in its regions. Anadolu Etap supports the development of Turkish agriculture by bringing international quality standards to the regions where it operates; in this regard, the building blocks of the sustainability strategy of the company are the social projects that focus on women and children. Anadolu Etap launched the MİÇO (Children of Seasonal Agricultural Workers) project on its farms as of 2015 and has been the first agricultural institution to offer free and continuous education support for over 1237 children of seasonal workers since then. Besides taking into consideration the added value created by women in the Turkish economy, particularly by participating in the agricultural workforce, Anadolu Etap organizes periodic "sustainable agriculture practices" trainings with the AgroAcademy addressing female farmers to increase the number of qualified women employees and to support their participation in the Turkish economy. A total of 875 farmers, 75% of whom are women, have attended the AgroAcademy training since 2014. Hosting an average of 2 thousand seasonal agricultural workers on its farms every year, Anadolu Etap also pays attention to ensure that 70% of the workers working on its farms are women.
Efficient Use of Natural Resources with Smart Agriculture Practices
Bahadır Açık stated that they have allocated a large portion of their $ 350 million worth investment for the development of agriculture and agriculture-based industries in Turkey to smart agriculture and modern production technologies since their establishment and he continued his words; 'On the grounds of the efficient use of natural resources, we put emphasis on to agriculture, production technologies and digitalization that will add value to our processes. We implement significant projects within the company, particularly in terms of reducing water use and addressing waste management. By 2019, we have managed to reduce our water use in our fruit juice plants by 14 percent. We use drip irrigation on all our farms. By irrigation at night, we aim to prevent evaporation that shall take place during the day and thus keep water usage at minimum levels. In addition to our high rate of recyclable waste, our organic waste rate is 78 percent. At the same time, we have digitized our operations flow across all our processes from cultivation to harvest; we now manage all our operations end-to-end with traceable, predictable, and sustainable methods. By combining technology and international quality standards, we continue to produce high quality and safe food in line with the respect for natural resources ".
Contribution To Biodiversity
Anadolu Etap, which puts emphasis on to protect the natural life in the areas where its farms are located to reduce the adverse effects of climate change and to protect the ecosystem, also executes significant projects with the purpose to improve conditions that will negatively affect biodiversity in all areas of its activity. Thousands of Leyland Cypress and Paulownia trees have been planted around the fruit trees across 6 different regions of Turkey where Anadolu Etap farms are located. Moreover, the heritage of nature is protected by preserving the plane trees and Trojan oaks found in Balıkesir and Çanakkale farms. Anadolu Etap also contributes to ensuring biodiversity and ecological balance by protecting the Anatolian ground squirrel, which is an indicator of the biological diversity of Turkey and is classified in the Red List indicating the category close to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Anadolu Etap, with hundreds of bird nests and thousands of beehives placed on its farms, continues the natural ecosystem and reduces the use of chemicals in struggling against harmful organisms via nature-friendly methods.
Anadolu Etap, with its sustainability priorities and the projects implemented between 2015-2019, have directly contributed to the 'Zero Hunger', 'Responsible Production and Consumption', 'Decent Work and Economic Growth', 'Reducing Inequalities' and 'Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure' goals of the United Nations (UN SDGs). A total of 20 projects implemented by the company as of 2019 have also been featured in the UN SDSs compliance report titled "From Anatolia to the Future" published by Anadolu Group.
Anadolu Etap 2018-2019 Sustainability Report is accessible via: https://www.anadoluetap.com/anadolu-etap-sustainability-report.pdf