The Result Sharing Meeting' event of The 'Safe Digital Marketing for Agricultural Entrepreneurs' (DIGIAGRIMARK) project, implemented within the scope of Erasmus+ Adult Education Strategic Partnerships and supported by the Turkish National Agency, organized by the Project Coordinator, Aydın Governorship EU and Foreign Relations Office on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, in Aydın with the participation of approximately 180 people.
The Final Sharing Meeting event was attended by Deputy Governor Mehmet Yüce, Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry Ahmet Öktem, KOSGEB Provincial Director Sadullah Dülger, Söke TAYEM Director Lütfi ÖZENÇ, project partners (Aydın Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Söke TAYEM, SOYED, Inercia Digital, NEWTIE, EGINA), Chamber of Commerce and Exchanges, Chamber of Agriculture, cooperatives, and union presidents, representatives, farmers, and entrepreneurs.
Reyhan Gülpınar, the Coordinator of Aydın Governorship European Union Foreign Relations Bureau, provided general information about the project they have been implementing for two and a half years. Gülpınar stated, "Agriculture, which is one of the strongest aspects of our province, has always been one of the areas where we prioritize project preparation. Digitization in agriculture, targeted by the European Union, brings about changes in every aspect of the agriculture and food chain, including the marketing of products. Our project is designed in accordance with the increasing importance of developing digital marketing skills that target agriculture and rural development in the near future." She provided information about the reasons and scope of the project. She concluded her speech by expressing her gratitude to the team and institutions implementing the project, which will contribute to sustainability both in Turkey and the European Union.
Project Coordinator İlknur Böğrekci began her speech by saying, "In the age where digital transformation is progressing rapidly, we have developed our project in order to enable our farmers to adapt to this change and make a contribution to our farmers in this field. In our project, we aim to contribute to the digitalization in agriculture and the economic and environmental sustainability of our agricultural sector by improving the digital marketing and digital security skills of our farmers and all agricultural entrepreneurs." She provided detailed information about the project's intellectual outputs, such as the Digiagrimark website, the “Safe Digital Marketing for Agricultural Entrepreneurs curriculum”, “the training book”, “interactive materials”, “training videos uploaded to the project's YouTube channel”, “Digiagrimark Online Education Platform”, and “Agripreneur's Safe Digital Marketing Guidebook and Toolbox”.
Dilayda Bilğe, a young entrepreneur who established a local digital marketing service that quickly became known throughout Turkey and participated in the online trainings of the DIGIAGRIMARK project, said, "I am one of those who ventured into e-commerce during the pandemic. I live in the Gölhisar village of Aydın, and our village is famous for artichokes. First, I created a “Gurme Enginar” (Gourmet Artichoke) business page on Instagram. It quickly spread throughout Turkey, especially with the impact of the pandemic. However, I experienced security issues. In terms of easier sales and reliability, it is necessary to establish a website. I was lucky to meet DIGIAGRIMARK. I hope every farmer and marketer benefits from this training. Thanks to the training I received, I am improving my business and feel more secure."
Ahmet ÖKDEM, the Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry of Aydın, mentioned the contributions of the project to the agricultural activities in our province, saying, "In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for healthy, natural, and local food. In response to this transformation, our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has developed a digital agriculture market model that allows producers to sell their products at their true value. Our mission as the Provincial Directorate of Aydın is to determine, implement, monitor, and evaluate innovative policies in order to ensure sustainable agricultural production, access to sufficient and reliable food, rural development, and competitiveness. With the project activities, a training module and onine education platform have been created that our farmers in Aydın, our project partners in the European Union and in Turkey, can benefit from. Farmers participating in the training on the education platform will have the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills related to digital marketing and achieve an alternative marketing options."
Prof. Dr. Alexandra Baldaque, the SEO of NEWTIE, the project partner from Portugal, spoke about their work. She stated that their mission is to support innovation and promote it through European Union joint projects. She added that the most important outcomes of the project are the 'Safe Digital Marketing for Agripreneurs' curriculum and course, and the online education platform.
In this platform, which can be used by agricultural entrepreneurs by logging in from their phones, tablets and computers, all stages of digital marketing are presented to the service of farmers/entrepreneurs in an understandable language and with different types of content. The information on the training platform has been made functional with videos and interactive programmes in addition to the training book and lecture notes.
The Agricultural Entrepreneur's Guide to Safe Digital Marketing and the Safe Digital Marketing Strategy Toolbox for Agricultural Entrepreneurs are other outputs of the project. The guide and toolbox include the "Roadmap for Safe Digital Marketing of the Agricultural Entrepreneur" as well as various training resources, tools to be used in digital marketing and digital marketing experiences of farmers in different countries.
The project's website, training platform and all other outputs are available in six languages and free of charge at www.digiagrimark.com.
Our farmers and entrepreneurs who want to start e-commerce can benefit from all trainings free of charge by registering to the training platform of the project at www.digiagrimark.net.
