Women Stars of Agriculture

Besler continues the Women Stars of Agriculture project, which was launched in 2022 with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in order to strengthen the economic independence of women farmers, promote equal opportunities in the agricultural sector and popularize sustainable agricultural practices.

Within the scope of this project, we set out with the goal of increasing the proportion of women farmers among those engaged in contract farming. While we worked with 15 women farmers in the first year of the Women Stars of Agriculture project, which we started in 2022, we managed to increase this number to 70 women farmers in 2024. In this way, our ratio of women farmers, which was 5% at the beginning of the project, reached approximately 30%.

70 women farmers included in the project had the opportunity to strengthen their economic independence.
On 4,520 decares of land, sustainable agricultural practices were implemented.
7,022 tons of products were purchased, increasing the contribution of women farmers to agricultural production.
A total of 60,114,000 TL worth of products were purchased from women farmers, supporting economic development.

In 2024 the scope of the project was expanded through cooperation with Tabit (Smart Agricultural Technologies Inc. in Türkiye). Women farmers are being provided with training on modern agricultural practices and digital solutions. The program supports women farmers to work more consciously and efficiently in agricultural production by increasing their knowledge and skills through trainings covering areas such as entrepreneurship, ecological literacy, financial literacy and artificial intelligence.

In the third year of the project, we continued our online trainings and aimed to increase the impact of the project with webinars, trainings videos at YouTube, face-to-face introduction meetings and gift programs. A total of 500 applications were received for the online training sessions held during the year, while 382 women farmers who completed the courses were awarded certificates.

During the first half of 2025, over 600 women farmers registered for 11 online training sessions. Of these, 396 actively participated, and 342 successfully completed the program and received certification.

Women Stars of Agriculture Project Social Impact Analysis

In October 2023, IPSOS and Boğaziçi University conducted a social impact study to understand the impact of the Women Stars of Agriculture project on the lives of women farmers and identify priority development opportunities. According to the analysis, all of the women involved in the project stated that the project created significant positive change in their lives. The analysis showed that the project empowered women economically and made them feel more confident and self-confident in society. Being visible through the project’s announcement platforms made farmer women feel important and valuable. In terms of financial benefits, purchase guarantee, advance support, seed/fertilizer support and the ability to produce efficiently by gaining knowledge with agricultural engineers were the most prominent issues.

” At Besler, we recognise that equality, diversity and inclusion are integral to sustainable growth. In 2024, we turned our commitments in this area into tangible results.

For the first time, we employed female blue-collar workers at our oil business unit in Adana, hiring 11 women. We increased the proportion of female employees across all our regions. Within our sales team, we increased the percentage of women from 8.5% to 14.7%, and appointed the first female Regional Manager at Yıldız Holding.

By aligning our communication strategies with the principles of equal opportunity, we have contributed to social transformation. We are committed to strengthening equal opportunities as a core element of our organisational culture and will continue to drive progress in this area.”

Mert Altınkılıç, Besler, CEO