Yıldız Holding announced its 2030 targets supporting women farmers, producers and entrepreneurs at COP31

The 2030 targets, which are strengthened by the equal opportunity work carried out by companies for many years under the leadership of Yıldız Holding Women's Platform, aim to take current practices further. Providing purchase guarantee, financing, technical consultancy and training opportunities to women farmers; These studies, which support women producers' access to the market and women entrepreneurs' business development, aim to contribute to the economic empowerment of women and the development of climate-resistant agriculture and food systems.

This joint commitment, built on the cooperation between Yıldız Holding and UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office within the framework of Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), aims to evaluate new cooperation opportunities that will support women's access to information, finance, technology and markets, by taking advantage of the Holding's experience in the field. While Yıldız Holding companies continue to work towards their own 2030 targets, opportunities for sharing experience and disseminating similar practices with UN Women will be discussed.

Supporting women farmers' access to information, finance and technology is also important for them to benefit from agricultural practices that use water efficiently, protect the soil and facilitate adaptation to changing climate conditions. Thus, equal opportunity efforts are addressed together with rural development and food security targets.

Mehmet Tütüncü: "We reflect equality of opportunity in our purchasing, supply and business partnership models"

Yıldız Holding Chairman and CEO Mehmet Tütüncü said:

"As Yıldız Holding, with our understanding of 'Make Happy, Be Happy', we see equality of opportunity as the basis of sustainable growth. We act with this understanding in our value chain extending from our colleagues to farmers, from producers to entrepreneurs. We reflect equality of opportunity in our purchasing, supply and business partnership models. Through our Women's Platform, we bring together the work of our companies, follow our progress and set new goals.

With the 2030 targets we announced at COP31, we aim to buy more products from women farmers, give more space to women producers in our sales channels, and support women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. We complement the long-term commercial relationships we establish with women farmers with training, financing and technical support. We aim to ensure that these supports help our farmers prepare for changing climate conditions and improve their production.

The power of our Women's Platform comes from increasing the impact of our work by bringing together the knowledge and experience of our companies around common goals. While sharing this knowledge with the national and international public at COP31, we once again demonstrate our determination for the economic empowerment of women. We see our joint commitment with UN Women as an important step to share the practices we develop in the field and increase the impact of our work. "We believe that women's stronger participation in production and economic life will contribute to the future of agriculture and food."

Maryse Guimond: "We see the 2030 commitments announced by Yıldız Holding at COP31 as an important step that will increase the impact of these efforts."

UN Women Turkey Country Director Maryse Guimond said, "Women's equal opportunities in accessing information, finance, technology and markets strengthen their participation in economic life. We find the work of Yıldız Holding companies supporting women farmers, producers and entrepreneurs under the leadership of the Women's Platform very valuable in this respect. We see the 2030 commitments announced by Yıldız Holding at COP31 as an important step that will increase the impact of these works. Within the scope of the cooperation between UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office and Yıldız Holding, we benefit from this experience and support women's economic "We aim to contribute to the dissemination of practices that support food empowerment and the development of climate-resilient food systems." he said.

New 2030 targets build on existing studies

Yıldız Holding companies aim to expand the support they offer to women farmers, producers and entrepreneurs with their 2030 targets. The targets announced at COP31 are as follows:

Ülker will reach more women farmers with cocoa and hazelnut programs

While Ülker helps farmers improve their agricultural knowledge and skills with its More Than Cocoa and More Than Hazelnut programs, it supports the economic and social empowerment of women farmers.

Within the scope of the More Than Cocoa program, it is aimed to include 800 women farmers in the program by 2030. Providing mobile health services to a total of 4 thousand girls and adult women in regions where access to health services is limited is also among the targets. The program includes good agricultural practices, growing trees along with agricultural production, and activities that support the living conditions of farming communities.

The More Than Hazelnut program aims to reach 1,000 farmers, 500 of whom are women, and support the leadership development of at least 25 women farmers by the same date. Farmers are offered technical advice and training; They are supported to benefit from digital monitoring tools, biological control of pests and production methods that protect the soil.

Besler will increase product purchases from women farmers

The Women Stars of Agriculture program, run by Besler under the SuperFresh brand, offers women farmers purchase guarantees, financing, agricultural inputs, year-round agricultural engineer support and training opportunities.

Since the program began in 2022, the share of women among SuperFresh's contract producers has increased from approximately 5 percent to 30 percent. More than 30 thousand tons of agricultural raw materials were purchased from women farmers participating in the program, purchasing approximately 280 million TL. More than 5,500 women were reached through training and local studies.

By 2030, it is aimed to increase the total raw material purchase from women farmers to more than 62 thousand tons, and the total number of participants in training for women to approximately 11 thousand.

SuperFresh aims to increase its purchases from female farmers while maintaining the 30 percent share of women among its contracted producers. Communication activities that make women's contributions to agricultural production visible will continue, along with purchase guarantee, financing, agricultural input, technical consultancy and training support.

ŞOK Marketler and Bizim Toptan will work with more female producers

ŞOK Marketler and Bizim Toptan aim to increase the total number of women producers registered as suppliers from 74 to 105 by 2030.

With this target, which envisages an increase of approximately 42 percent, more female producers will be supported to reach retail and wholesale channels, present their products to a wider customer base and expand their businesses.

The number of female entrepreneurs will increase in Seç Marketler

Seç Marketler aims to increase the number of female entrepreneurs in its business partner network from 138 to 175 by 2030.

With an increase of approximately 27 percent, it is aimed for more women to own their own stores and develop their business in the retail sector through Seç Marketler's business partnership model.