Sesame Seed

Established in 1956, Tekfen Group of Companies operates in three core business areas: Contracting, Agricultural-Industry (Agri-Industry) and Investment and Services. Tekfen Holding is the umbrella company for all of the firms and subsidiaries in the Tekfen Group. 

Tekfen Tarımsal Araştırma, Üretim ve Pazarlama A.Ş. (Tekfen Agricultural Research, Production and Marketing, Inc.) is the umbrella company of the Tekfen Agricultural Production Group and was established in 2017 with the aim to bring a corporate perspective to agricultural production, which plays a vital role in securing a sustainable future. This move allows the Group to put its know-how gained during almost four decades in the field of agricultural inputs as well as its science-based approach and strong financial structure in the service of agricultural production.

With 76 agricultural engineers on its payroll who bring agriculture together with science and the most up-to-date technologies, Tekfen Agri exports fresh fruits to 80 different customers in 22 countries under the Alanar Fruit brand name, which Tekfen entirely acquired in May 2019. The company also uses its own seeds and saplings to grow bread wheat seeds, high-grade edible and seed potatoes, cherries, Bursa black figs, apricots, pomegranates, Japanese plums, nectarines, and bananas. Tekfen Agri is one of the few agricultural production companies in the world to produce such a diverse range of species. Tekfen Agri also contributes to raising productivity and quality in agricultural production by offering high-quality seeds, seedlings and saplings to farmers. As Turkey’s first and one of the few technological centres of agriculture, the Agripark complex located in Adana has been producing disease-free seeds and seedlings since 2004 through the tissue culture method and carries out crop seed breeding practices. The facility, which was registered as an R&D Centre in 2018, carries out studies that primarily focus on the improvement of Turkish agriculture benefiting from Anatolia’s rich endemic biodiversity.

Tekfen Agri has been at the fore of its sector by allocating 8.5% of its revenues to research and product development in 2020. The Company ranked 3rd in the agriculture category of the “Turkish Companies with the Highest R&D Expenditure in 2019” list prepared by the Turkishtime journal. 

In 2020, 4 varieties of bread wheat (Tekfen 1039, Tekfen 2001, Tekfen 2077 and Tekfen 2095) and 1 variety of sesame suitable for machine harvesting (Equi2017010) have been registered by Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Variety Registration and Seed Certification Centre. 

Tekfen Agri undertakes its seedling operations through Hishtil-Toros Fidecilik (HTF) (which is a subsidiary of Tekfen Agri). Conducting its operations in high-tech greenhouses at two locations, with 50 decares in Antalya and 26 decares in Adana, HTF grows high-quality, healthy seedlings that are in compliance with recognised Good Seeds and Plants Practices (GSPP) standards.

In order to minimize the restrictive and negative effects of the pandemic, Tekfen Agri has taken the necessary precautions against COVID-19 since the first day, prioritising the health of its employees, business partners and customers. In that regard, by carrying out the Infection Prevention and Control Procedures specified by the Turkish Standards Institution (TSE), Tekfen Agri's Nevşehir Underground Storage and Agripark facilities and Alanar Fruit’s İznik and Alaşehir facilities have been awarded the TSE COVID-19 Safe Production Certificate.

Having established its waste management infrastructure with a system where waste is effectively separated at source, a Zero Waste Certificate (Basic Level) has been obtained for Tekfen Agri’s Nevşehir Underground Storage and Adana Agripark facilities and Alanar Fruit’s Alaşehir facility.