KEBABBLE Turkey's
born-again farmer By Fazile
Zahir
FETHIYE, Turkey - Organic food might
change your life, but organic farming can change
the lives of thousands. Nazmi Ilicali, born in
1953, grew up in the east of Turkey in the
province of Erzurum, famous for its scorching
summers and hard winters. Erzurum, one of Turkey's
poorest districts, is where Nazmi's life has been
spent enriching the barren lives of those around
him.
First he trained as a teacher, and
then he spent 25 years working
in
schools in and around his home town. After his
retirement he found himself bored and at loose
ends, and inactivity soon developed into such a
serious drinking problem that his nickname around
town became "Alcoholic Nazmi".
He
struggled on and finally, with the help of his
family and a burning new interest, he began to
recover. Nazmi discovered farming, in particular
organic farming, and the power of this raw contact
with the earth and its produce pulled him out of
his personal quagmire and led him to enhance the
lives and livelihoods of thousands of other
farmers in his area.
Nazmi is more than
just a simple farmer, he is a born-again farmer
with a zealous devotion to organic farming and a
burning desire to organize other people around him
to reap its benefits as well. As part of his
rehabilitation he joined the Daphan Plains Organic
Agriculture Project (set up in 1996) and grew to
play a key part in the successful efforts of the
organization.
He explains why, ironically,
the poverty of this area makes it perfect for
starting organic farming projects: "The earth in
this area is especially suitable, because the
local population is so poor that for years they
have been unable to afford chemical fertilizers.
The climate is good for organic agriculture, too.
The frost and cold here even kill the eggs laid in
the earth by insects, and because of that there is
no need for pesticides - we have a totally
chemical-free soil."
Soon after joining
the Daphan project, Nazmi took a further step.
"After doing extensive research, I decided that
organic agriculture was the only investment with
good potential in the east of Turkey. But I also
knew that any efforts would have to be made in an
organized way. When I first became involved three
years ago, I brought 633 farmers together, and the
European Community gave me the financial support
to set up the Eastern Anatolian Farmers and
Livestock Keepers Union. Now we have 3,000
members, and are still gathering members like an
avalanche gathers snow."
Nazmi is the
president of the union, which includes farmers
from 12 different areas as members, and he has
acquired a new nickname: "Organic Nazmi".
Each year he plans new measures to improve
his union members' lives. This year union money
will be spent on new farming tools that will be
owned communally and lent out for poor farmers to
use for free. Nazmi's new social conscience and
sense of responsibility extend to all areas of his
farmers' lives: "Because I'm a teacher, I place
great importance on education. I believe that
education is more important than profits. From now
on every farmer should know how to use a computer
and have an e-mail address. They should be able to
communicate with their fellow farmers nationally
and internationally. For those that want them, we
are going to provide English lessons."
Nazmi's name and the success of the Daphan
Plains project have spread worldwide. Last year
the American Ashoka Entrepreneur Trust gave the
project an award for "social entrepreneurship".
This month a delegation from Japan came to visit,
and Nazmi said, "They were very impressed. From
now on our products will be found on Japanese
dinner tables too."
Daphan produces
organic wheat, rye, barley, white beans, green
lentils, chickpeas and bulgur wheat. Its website,
www.daphan.org, invites buyers to order the type
of vegetables and pulses they want grown
organically and, on signing contracts, Daphan will
supply them. Next year in a new diversification
the project will distribute 600 cows to its
members so they can start farming organic meat and
milk.
Nazmi explains that when they first
started, the biggest problem they had was the
packaging and processing of their organic
products. Rather than allowing this to stall their
progress, they built a small factory and made
every member of the association a shareholder. The
factory began to grind their own cereals into
flour and package it. Their brand identity, sales
and profit margins have all improved since.
The efforts of Nazmi and the Daphan Plains
organic project are not just appreciated by the
3,000 farmers in the Erzurum area, the benefits
stretch across the country to the urban sprawl
that is Istanbul. The city council set up a
program in 2005 that encourages rural villagers to
stay in their home provinces rather than migrate
to Istanbul. The Daphan Plains project and
Istanbul council have recently come to an
agreement whereby the council buys the project's
organic wheat for the public bakery. Under the
terms of the contract the city will take 10,000
tonnes of organic wheat, which will earn the
project 1 million liras (US$675,000).
Kadir Topbas, the head of the Istanbul
council, said organic farming projects had halted
rural-to-urban migration in several areas around
Erzurum. He underlined the importance of
supporting these types of projects both locally
and by the central government: "The government
provides serious support to these projects. As a
local council we have a five-year contract with
the Erzurum area. We supply Istanbul residents
with access to organic bread as a result and we
plan to help these areas to market all their
produce in the future. The success of these
projects has resulted in more than 1,000 families
leaving Istanbul and returning to their home
villages."
Organic Nazmi is a happy man,
and so are the people he surrounds himself with.
Mehmet, one of his farmers, summed up the change
in their lives by saying: "We go to our fields
smiling now and breed our livestock with a lot of
happiness. We are very proud of Nazmi and what he
has done."
Fazile Zahir is of
Turkish descent, born and brought up in London.
She moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been
writing full time since then.
