Agriculture Minister: Grape harvest of 2018 will not be subsidised

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.