United Agro Project:
Highlights of Georgia’s 8 major agricultural projects

What has been done in Georgia within eight major agricultural programs that were created to promote rural development in the country?

Today Georgia’s Agricultural Projects Management Agency (APMA) of the Ministry of Agriculture released latest statistical data about the United Agro Project, which includes different agricultural programs launched in recent years. 

The eight agricultural programs were united under one umbrella and aimed to make it easier for farmers to identify what programs they could best benefit from. At the same time the United Agro Project would also let the state to better communicate information about the available agricultural support with farmers.

For futher information about the recent developments in Georgia's agricultural sector read the story What has Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture achieved in 4 years?

The eight ongoing agricultural programs gathered under the United Agro Project are:

• Plant the Future
• Preferential Agro Credit Project
• Co-financing of Agro Processing and Storage Enterprises
• Georgian Tea Plantation Rehabilitation Program
• Agro Insurance
• Small Farmers Spring Works Support Programme
• Program of Agro -production Promotion
• Seasonal Projects

The APMA reviewed all programs and published detailed information about what had been done within these agricultural programs in recent years.

Plant the Future

The APMA said 308 nurseries have been planted this year in Georgia. Photo by sanerge.ge.

The Plant the Future program launched in 2015 to boost agriculture and support the planting of nurseries and gardens across the country.

So far 293 beneficiaries planted 308 nurseries on 2,044ha of land, where the state spent 9,767,644 GEL, said APMA.

Within the Plant the Future state program, the following fruits and nuts were planted in Georgia:

• Walnut – 695.5 ha
• Apple – 462.2 ha
• Nut – 405 ha
• Almond – 193.2 ha
• Plum – 60.9 ha
• Blueberry – 42.3 ha
• Others – 185.2 ha

Preferential Agro Credit Project

Under the ‘Preferential agro credit’ project, credits are granted by commercial banks and financial institutions participating in the project. Photo by N. Alavidze/Agenda.ge. 

The project was launched in 2013 to improve the processes of primary agricultural production, processing, storage and sale by providing farmers and entrepreneurs with cheap, long-term and preferential funds.

Between 2013-2016 the state issued cheap loans worth 720,349,583 GEL in the national currency (Lari) and $222,428,131 USD in foreign currency.

Co-financing of Agro Processing and Storage Enterprises

The project comprised of two components: agricultural products processing enterprises co-financing component and storage enterprises co-financing component.

So far this year the state co-financed 30 enterprises. The total sum of the projects were worth $19,326,207 USD while the state’s participation was $6,996,849 USD.

Agro Insurance

The Agricultural Insurance program came into force in 2014 and aimed to develop the insurance market in the agricultural sector, promote agricultural activities, retain income for eligible individuals and reduce risks.

Thousands of farmers have benefit from the Agro Insurance program in Georgia. Photo by Agenda.ge.

So far this year 16,139 policies were issued within the Agro Insurance program and the premium paid by the APMA totalled 7,737,063 GEL.

Small Farmers Spring Works Support Program

This program was created to give a helping hand to farmers during spring works.

So far this year 772,626 farmers received 48,140,264 GEL from the state to cultivate 206.50ha of land.

New enterprises

In Georgia 124.9 million GEL state funds were used to fund the creation of 154 new enterprises.

The following enterprises were created:

• Wine producing – 19 enterprises
• Poultry farming – 18 enterprises
• Live-stock farming – 12 enterprises
• Fruit processing – 12 enterprises
• Products storage warehouses – 12 enterprises
• Greenhouse – 11 enterprises
• Nuts processing – 10 enterprises
• Milk processing – 9 enterprises
• Other – 51 enterprises