TURKEY TO GET TO WORK IMMEDIATELY

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- Turkey is not keen to use nuclear
technology for seed production as other conventional and scientific methods
can still be as effective, its Agriculture and Rural Development Minister,
Mehmet Mehdi Eker, said Friday.

Speaking to Bernama on the sidelines of the three-day Developing Eight (D8)
Ministers' Meeting on Food Security conference here, he believed that there were
sufficient manpower and scientific knowledge and resources in the member
countries to carry out research and development in the production of high
yielding, disease-resistant seeds for various crops using time-tested methods.

"So the use of nuclear energy is not necessary for now due to various
adverse effects", he said, referring to an earlier proposal by a member country
to use nuclear technology for seed production.

The D8 meeting, which entered its final day Friday, had appointed Turkey and
Iran to be the prime movers in the field of seed production.

Mehmet said his country was "all fired up" to start work on the project and
it was expected to hold the first workshop among member countries in Ankara by
April.

The meeting earlier agreed to give the prime mover countries six months to
begin their respective projects.

Other prime movers were Malaysia and Indonesia for animal feed and Egypt for
fertilisers.

Mehmet said he would immediately ask his ministry to collect data on the
number of research facilities, manpower and capability of each member country to
facilitate the deliberations at the workshop.

The countries that make up the D8 are Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Nigeria.

-- BERNAMA