Historic Aegean district famed for ancient city of Ephesus launches ambitious agricultural project

Nuray Pehlivan / DUVAR

İzmir's Efes Selçuk district, most well-known for the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, one of Turkey's most iconic tourist destinations, has launched a sweeping project focusing on local, sustainable agricultural production.

Efes Selçuk Mayor Filiz Çeritoğlu Şengel, who established the 'Efes Field' initiative, said that the Covid-19 epidemic has unveiled the necessity for people to invest more in agriculture.

“The coronavirus became a very clear indicator for why we started this. We need to incentivize production, and get people involved in agriculture, because there is already enough of an unemployment problem in this country,” Şengel told Duvar.

“It is not possible for local administrations to solve this alone. For this reason if we can incentivize people and family agriculture in particular we can take important steps in terms of employment. There is nothing more important in the world than food. Think about it, even after leaving a funeral people bring their neighbors the food they cooked at home,” Şengel added.

'Agriculture and tourism function in parallel fashion'

The project includes a school, a seed center, an agricultural museum and a producer's market. It aims to purchase projects from a variety of cooperatives and villagers and sell them in a public market in the district.

Şengel emphasized the importance of using natural seeds and avoiding GMOs and that the Efes Selçuk region is home to very fertile land. While the district is home to the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, one of the most iconic and popular tourist sites in the country, Şengel said that agriculture and tourism can complement and support one another.

“Look, at the moment tourism has ground to a halt. However if people continue to produce, they may not be harmed economically. Agriculture and tourism incentivize each other, they don't compete but rather function in a parallel fashion,” Şengel said.

Şengel said that the Efes Selçuk district already has village academies that offer music, English language, and drama lessons, and that these will be combined with the Earth School component of the Efes Field project, which will offer agricultural education and certification.