• 09/01/2014

Özaltın goes from Aydın to Africa

Our readers know that I often cover the integration of agriculture and industry, because this is where added value and wealth come from. We talked to Kasım Kutlu Öz, General Manager of Özaltın Agricultural Enterprises Industry and Trade Inc. operating in Koçarlı district of Aydın, about the activities and projects of the company.

Öz said, “Our company first started its activities in 2000 with an olive oil business. In the following years, our olive oil business increased its activities and established a second olive oil business in Çulhalar village as well as Koçarlı/Dedeköy. In the following years, our company incorporated the facility in Kalfaköy in the center of Aydın and increased the number of olive oil processing facilities to 3. As a result, our olive oil production and export activities continue at full speed.”

Ambitious in seedS

Öz said, “In addition, in 2003, we put into service a cotton ginning plant consisting of 38 rollergin type ginning machines in Koçarlı/Dedeköy campus. In 2007, we increased the operating capacity of this plant by adding 3 sawgin type plants. In 2012, we put into service our ginning plant consisting of 60 rollergin type machines in Söke district and in 2013, we put into service our sawgin plant in Diyarbakır region. We cultivate cotton and wheat seeds on a total area of nearly 3 thousand decares with the latest system tools and equipment. All of the production is achieved thanks to our experienced team of agricultural engineers. We also produce under contract with many farmers and provide our farmers with diesel oil, fertilizer, tools and equipment support when necessary.”

Cooperation with Bayer

“In 2004, we put into operation a delinting facility consisting of 3 delinter and related systems with world-class production quality,” says Öz and continues his words as follows: “As of this year, our plant, which has a delinted seed processing capacity of 10,000 tons/year, continues to work in cooperation with Bayer Cropscience. Cotton seeds produced in our plant on behalf of Bayer Cropscience are exported to the Turkish domestic market and many countries of the world. In addition, our plant doubled its seed processing capacity in 2011 and has made a name for itself with its highly modern and high quality seed processing and packaging. Our R&D Studies, which we attach great importance to, are mainly focused on cotton seed production. As a result of activities that require long years and laborious work, as of today, production permits have been obtained for 4 unique cotton seed varieties of our company developed with domestic capital, and production and registration activities are continuing rapidly. We have also created a serious gene bank for the sustainability of our work. This gene bank includes more than 2,500 advanced lines. All of these have all their characteristics determined with gene resources, and are of a variety that can respond to any feature we want at any time. All of our works are designed with the institutions of TÜBİTAK and the Ministry of Industry.”

Target Africa

Mr. Kasım Kutlu Öz gives the following information about the latest developments related to the company: “In addition, together with the partners of our organization, we have reached an agreement with the government in Ethiopia to open 500 thousand decares of land for agriculture. We have also taken a giant step for cotton cultivation in the Omo Valley region for two years. We will plant the first seeds in the coming days. The fact that all the seeds used will come out of our facility will also be an indication that we will make a great contribution to the national economy. There is also a Vegetable production branch within our organization. Our Vegetable production is carried out on an area of 1,350 decares, fully certified in accordance with Good Agricultural Practices (ITU) standards. The products produced are shipped to giant companies such as Migros and Özgörkey, and our company is one of the largest producers of these institutions in the region.”