We strive to carry our sustainability philosophy beyond our in-house practices and adopt it across the life cycle of our products. Given this philosophy, we see the "sustainable procurement of raw materials" as one of the fundamental elements of sustainable growth. We build our strategy not only for our own operations but also to cover our suppliers.
We procure 80% of our wheat, our key raw material, locally and add value to the lives of thousands of contracted growers we work with.
We prioritize procurement from the farmer directly for our wheat supply and other agricultural products. We provide seed support to farmers and sign harvest contracts. We support seed improvement projects to get better quality wheat. As a result of the wheat improvement studies we have been conducting for 10 years in collaboration with Bahri Dağdaş International Agriculture Institute to get better suited varieties for biscuits we have developed a high yield, drought and disease resistant seed that we call Ali Ağa. This new high quality wheat variety we call Aliağa, which delivers higher yields generating higher income for our farmers while securing the supply of wheat at the standards required by our factory, has been registered by the T.R. Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Seed Registry and Certification Department.
We have been conducting similar sustainable farming efforts for oat varieties as well. In addition, as the biggest hazelnut buyer in Turkey, we are continuing our joint efforts with WWF Turkey to ensure the sustainability in hazelnut production in Giresun, a region the produces the local and high quality hazelnut variety. While this effort supports the research of hazelnut farming on biodiversity it also aims to improve the socio-economic lives of farmers involved in hazelnut agriculture.