Ondokuz Mayis University (OMU) organized a celebration ceremony for the 171st year of agricultural education.
The ceremony was held in Prof. Dr. Fahrettin Tosun Hall of the Faculty of Agriculture with the participation of Governor of Samsun İbrahim Şahin, Mayor of Samsun Metropolitan Municipality Yusuf Ziya Yılmaz, Rector Prof. Dr. Sait Bilgiç, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kuran, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Vedat Ceyhan, Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Dr. Menderes Kabadayı, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture Prof. Dr. Yusuf Demir, General Director of Agricultural Products İsmail Kemaloğlu, General Director of Agricultural Enterprises Mehmet Taşan, President of Samsun Branch of the Association of Turkish Professional Agricultural Engineers Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Önder, President of Samsun Branch of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers Hayati Tosun, representatives of trade associations, representatives of farmers’ organizations, academicians, and students.
The first protocol speech was given by Muhsin Oğul, the President of OMU Student Council. Oğul stated: “As the students of the Faculty of Agriculture, we expect from this joyful day that the Agricultural Engineering will reach the position that it deserves for the future of our country. Turkish agriculture has never stayed in the background, and we don’t believe that it will stay so in the future. We will see this reality more clearly in the following processes”.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Önder, President of Samsun Branch of the Association of Turkish Professional Agricultural Engineers, remarked: “Today we celebrate the 171st day of the agricultural education. We want the enrichment of the applied trainings and research studies in the Faculties of Agriculture, and we believe that the universities should be more sensitive in this issue. We wish that personal rights and benefits of our academicians, public officers and employees in the private sector reach to a deserving level in order that they can work more effectively. Turkish Professional Engineering of Agriculture have made great contribution to the agricultural practices in our country since 1939, the date of its establishment, and it continues to support the development of our agriculture and the advancement of our country possessing rich soil resources to the level of the developed civilizations. I would like to thank our professors who have made great efforts for the agricultural education in the celebration ceremony of the 171st year of the agricultural education”.
Hayati Tosun, President of Samsun Branch of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers, gave a speech in the ceremony, and he said: “agricultural fields are decreasing rapidly while population is increasing day by day. We cannot make enough production to meet the current needs. As a result, we will see that agricultural engineering and production will become more prominent because engineers strive to create options and make solutions. Our biggest problem is the need for the training of equipped and certified agricultural engineers. Companies expect from our graduates a good command of foreign languages and computer skills. I think that the significance of the foreign language education should be emphasized more strongly in the educational curriculums”.
Tosun also touched upon the waste of agricultural products, and he stated: “20% of agricultural products are wasted in Turkey. This waste reaches a higher rate in the world. What cannot we share while 795 million people fight against starvation?”.
Prof. Dr. Yusuf Demir, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, expressed that 10 January was celebrated just like a ceremony, and that they would like to celebrate this date as Agricultural Festival.
Prof. Dr. Demir continued his remarks as follows: “There is only one reality of this country, which is agriculture. The development of the country is possible through agriculture and agriculture-based industries. At this point, our department has not received the value that it deserved in the university for long years. However, after our Rector took office, this perception has started to change and the Faculty of Agriculture, which is one of the most essential faculties of the university, has begun to gain its own identity once again. Our faculty has benefited from the opportunities of application and research. We hope that we will celebrate the Agricultural Festival next year as a Faculty of Agriculture which has broader goals and services. We will perceive today’s position not as a destination but a starting point in order to elevate the agricultural sector which is the source of life for human beings throughout the history to higher and better levels, and we will continue to give importance to the agricultural education”.
Mehmet Taşan, General Director of Agricultural Enterprises, drew attention to the fact that agriculture is one of the most important and ancient professions continuing to develop since the first existence of human beings, and he stated: “New developments have been observed both in the world and in our country in the field of agriculture as well as other fields, and this field has become a modern and strategically irreplaceable sector. General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises (TIGEM) is an institution carrying out numerous activities in order to guide the sector in the subjects of seeds and stocks, which are two significant elements in agricultural production. We can perceive it as one of the most important institutions in the world. Our institution produces 35% of the grain seeds used in Turkey and 50% of feed stocks.
Taşan said that universities are other most significant institutions in agriculture, and he expressed: “as TIGEM, we are ready to work and carry out new projects together with our universities, private sector and non-governmental organizations, and we have already experienced good examples of this togetherness”.
Rector Prof. Dr. Sait Bilgiç stated that the Faculty of Agriculture is one of the founding faculties of OMU, and he remarked: “the Faculty of Agriculture dating back to the foundation of OMU has an experienced group of academicians and a dynamic and hardworking team. We try to provide the maximum support with this faculty which represents our university in the international platform and which is one of our most important faculties”.
Rector Bilgiç celebrated the 171st year of the Agricultural education, and he said: “agriculture will maintain its existence as long as human beings continue to exist. Human needs are limitless while the opportunities are quite limited. Agricultural engineering is one of the most important professions offering services to people in the light of science so as to meet the limitless demands of people with these limited opportunities”.
Prof. Dr. Sait Bilgiç touched upon the problems resulting from the lower preferences toward the Faculties of Agriculture when compared to the past, and he expressed: “It is evident that the employment rate of the graduates should be elevated in order to increase the numbers of preferences for less demanded professions. I think that we should separate the fields necessitating the profession of engineering from the ones in which engineering is not needed. For instance, we can discuss certain questions such as: “What kind of outcomes can be observed if the department of agricultural machines is included within the scope of agricultural engineering and if agricultural constructions and irrigation are included in civil engineering?” or “Is it necessary that the graduates of the department of horticultural crops receive the education of engineering?”. We can think about these issues for the effective and productive use of human resources and financial sources”.
Yusuf Ziya Yılmaz, Mayor of Samsun Metropolitan Municipality, emphasized that local administrations should take responsibilities in terms of the protection and development of agricultural areas, and he said: “We carry out various activities for the development of agriculture in Samsun through an approach based on the sensitivity of our Ministry of Agriculture, which encourages the local administrations to assume responsibilities for the protection of agricultural areas. We are quite sensitive to the protection and safety of the agricultural areas related to municipal works. We struggle against the industrialization at the seaside so that agricultural areas are not destroyed. However, the industrialists always want to locate their institutions at the seaside. They use this solution in order to perform handling tasks more easily and to launch their products to the market. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that the 25% of gross national product of Samsun is comprised of agricultural areas and products”.
İbrahim Şahin, Governor of Samsun, gave a speech in the celebration ceremony, and he indicated that the problem of foreign language should be solved. Şahin also stated: “We have to speak English so that we can open up to the world. At that point, not only English but also Arabian and Russian will provide great advantages to their speakers. If we would be occupied with agriculture and if we lose the contact with our close neighbor, this situation will cause serious problems. There are 350 million people speaking Russian. If we cannot speak the language of our close neighbor, we do not have the opportunity to communicate with them. Therefore, we should learn Russian. Maybe it is not necessary today, but it will definitely be tomorrow”.
İbrahim Şahin underlined that there were two productive agricultural areas, namely Bafra and Çarşamba Plains, and he remarked: “we should elevate the agricultural activities on these lands with the contribution of the university, and we should focus on the production of the products that will make money”.
Governor Şahin indicated that high level of participation of the local and central administrations in the activity organized at OMU was pleasing for obtaining new outcomes, and he said: “the bureaucracy in Ankara should come to rural areas and inform the local people more frequently. Our people need it”.
After the speeches of the protocol, İsmail Kemaloğlu, General Director of Agricultural Products, made a presentation entitled “View on the Agricultural Markets”.
Plaque ceremony was held subsequent to the presentation. General Director Mehmet Taşan presented the plaque to Prof. Dr. Rıdvan Kızılkaya, Academician in the Department of Soil Science and Plant Feeding in the Faculty of Agriculture and President of the Department of International Relations at OMU, and the Prizewinner of Samsun Internet Media Group (IMG).
General Director İsmail Kemaloğlu gave the plaque to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Deniz Ekinci, who ranked 35th among 100 scientists in the field of drug chemistry in the scientific journals of Taylor&Francis group on Medicine and Health Sciences. In addition, the plaques were presented to the academicians completing 25 years of service as Agricultural Engineers.
Robe ceremony was held after the plaque ceremony. The Professors were vestured by Rector Prof. Dr. Sait Bilgiç, the Associate Professors were vestured by Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kuran, and the Assistant Professors were vestured by Prof. Dr. Vedat Ceyhan.
Celebration ceremony ended with the concert of Turkish Folk Music. Mehmet Taşan, General Director of Agricultural Enterprises, sang the song named “İki keklik bir kayada ötüyor”, and he received a big applause from the audience.
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