Entrepreneurial women, united under the brand "Ahtamara" in Van's Gevaş district, deliver the 20 types of products they produce to consumers both at home and abroad.
Ahtamara Agricultural Development Women's Cooperative, which was founded by 7 women living in the district in 2021 in order to produce more professionally, brand its products and expand its marketing network, has grown over time and reached 21 members.
Inspired by Akdamar Island, which is identified with the district and hosts thousands of local and foreign tourists every year, the enterprising women named the cooperative "Ahtamara" and carry out their production under the brand they registered with the same name.
The women, who produce 20 types of products within the cooperative, including beans, walnuts, honey, dried apricots, kavut, St. John's wort oil, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, tarhana, noodles, herbed cheese, cottage cheese and various local products, sell their products on e-commerce platforms as well as in local and national markets.
Women entrepreneurs, who present their products to visitors at the sales office allocated by the Van Governorship at Akdamar Pier, where passage to Akdamar Island, one of the city's important tourism destinations, also contribute to the promotion of the agricultural richness of the region.
Women, who send products to Germany, France and Iran, as well as many provinces, contribute to their family budgets and aim to increase their production and the number of countries they export to, thanks to the cooperative.
"The nice thing is that it consists of all female members."
Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Turgay Şişman, who visited the women entrepreneurs, told the AA reporter that they were proud of the success of the women who established the cooperative in 2021.
Stating that they support women to be successful in all fields, Şişman said:
"They started with seven female members. Today, they have reached 21 female members. With the participation of four new members, they will reach 25 female members. All of the women in our cooperative, which works with the slogan 'From farm to fork, from field to table', are very hardworking. They have increased the product range to approximately 20 different products. From walnuts to walnut jam, from Gevaş beans to dried green beans with geographical indication registration, from St. John's wort oil to completely organically produced vinegar. "We have an agricultural development cooperative with over 20 types of products. The good thing is that all of them are women. We visited the members of our cooperative on the occasion of World Cooperative Day and evaluated what we can do about the products, how we can develop the cooperative, and what support we can provide within the scope of the Rural Development Investments Support Program."
Explaining that the cooperative is very suitable for the situation and has a significant potential, Şişman stated that they will improve themselves further by obtaining organic production and geographical indication registrations in the future.
Stating that they constantly support the cooperative and always stand by them, Şişman said, "We constantly work in consultation with our technical teams on the problems they encounter, and strive to improve our cooperative. The products are exported not only domestically but also to Germany. Our women's cooperative has achieved this. They are increasing their revenue day by day." he said.
"We want to involve young people in production"
Cooperative president Aycan Bayazit stated that the products grown in the region have a different taste because they are irrigated with natural spring water.
Explaining that they have been producing these products for years and that they established a cooperative in order to make better sales, Bayazit said:
"We are all farmers. We sell the products we produce all over Türkiye. We have also started selling abroad. We sell to France, Germany and Iran. We also sell our products to visitors from abroad at our sales point given by the Governorship. Our product quality and feedback are very good. We want to move our cooperative further, increase production, reduce migration to cities and make women self-sufficient where they are. If they establish their economic independence, migration will decrease. We want to include young people in production. Our good goals are "We will try to do very good things in the future."
Devrim Şeker, a member of the cooperative and a graduate of the Department of Business Administration of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, explained that they offer the products grown in their fields to customers.
Stating that their products are very popular and they have received good feedback, Şeker said, "There is a high demand for our products. We aim to reach more countries. Our products are natural, additive-free and completely handmade. They are produced without using any machinery. We are trying to do our best to reach more places." he said.
Stating that as demands increase, market areas also expand, Şeker continued as follows:
"We used to say 'I don't work, I'm at home'. Now I say 'I'm a farmer' because farming is an important profession. After the cooperative, we understood the value of this better. Our product is valuable. There are many people, many countries and cities who want to reach our product. We also want to reach as many places as possible. Our products were previously sold below their value. After the cooperative, we realized the value of our products by proper promotion and reaching more people. Now we sell our products at their value, and this makes us happy."