Agriculture Minister: Grape harvest of 2018 will not be subsidised
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The government of Georgia has decided not to subsidise the grape harvest this year, announces the Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Levan Davitashvili.
This will be the first grape harvest of the last 10 years that has not been subsidised by the state.
The grape harvest will start soon and this is an important sphere for us… the state is gradually stopping the co-financing, assisting and subsidising regime. Actually, we did not subsidise last year’s harvest as well, but offered some compensation for producing alcoholic beverages. Now we see that there is no need for such support any more”, said Davitashvili.
Last year the government subsidised only the grape varieties Aleksandrouli and Mujuretuli in the Racha-Lechkhumi region of Georgia, while it did not subsidise high quality grapes in Kakheti.
The government explained that the reason for not subsidising the grape harvest was the fact that the wine sector has been adequately developing in Georgia as a result of state support.
The 2018 wine harvest is expected to begin at the end of August in Georgia’s winemaking regions of Kakheti, Imereti and Racha.
"Since independence we have not sold so many wines in terms of quantity as well as in terms of amount of money,” said Georgia’s Agriculture Minister Levan Davitashvili who today summarised the grape harvest of 2017.
The grape harvest is almost over in Georgia's main wine growing region Kakheti but the action continues in the northwestern Racha-Lechkhumi region, where a small amount of very unique grapes are grown.
The grape harvest is continuing actively in Georgia’s eastern wine region of Kakheti, where as of today, 85,000 tonnes of grape has already been processed.
Farmers from Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region, famous for its ancient tradition of winemaking, have received 76.6 million GEL (31 mln USD) through selling their grapes to wineries, official figures read.
The 2018 grape harvest is in full swing in Georgia’s wine region of Kakheti. This will be the first grape harvest in the last 10 years that has not been subsidised by the state.
The grape harvest continues actively in Georgia’s eastern wine region of Kakheti, where as of today, about 142,000 tonnes of grape have already been processed.
About 155 tonnes of grapes have been picked in Georgia’s western Racha region as of September 30.
After a 400-year-long break, restored historic terraced vineyards in mountainous Meskheti is giving its first grape harvest.