Gov’t launches agricultural support program

The Georgian Government has launched a new agricultural insurance project to strengthen the country’s agricultural sector.

The new project comes into play today will support the development of the agricultural sector - a priority area of the country’s growing economy, officials say.

Initially the new agro insurance project will operate as a pilot scheme that would finance part of a farmers’ insurance premium in the first year of the program, while the remaining costs would be covered by the farmer.

In the first stage of the program, the Government planned to insure some farmers who operated in the agriculture sector and from all segments of the industry, Georgia’s Agricultural Minister Otar Danelia earlier announced.

The program will see 5 million GEL state funds contribute to the project in its first year. This will be secured by insurance.

"According to the project the Government will finance 70 percent to 95 percent of the insurance premium in the first year of the program while the remaining 30 percent to five percent will be covered by the farmer,” Danelia said.

Local insurance companies started offering agro insurance to Georgian farmers in 1996. Currently the two top insurance companies that specialised in the agricultural sector were Aldagi BCI and GPI Holding, however industry insiders said the sector was poorly developed.

Meanwhile, statistics revealed almost 50 percent of the Georgian population was employed in the agricultural industry.

In particular, the Georgian farming population was divided into two groups: active farmers and peasants, who composed 70 percent of all farmers and owned up to two hectares of land for cultivation.

During the 1990s, agriculture represented 45 percent of the country’s GDP while in 2013 the figure was 9.3 percent. It ranked fifth in the Government resource allocation after trade, industry, public administration and transport and communication.

Read further information about the new agro project onAgenda.ge