FAO expert floats export potential of Georgian nuts
Walnuts, almonds and pistachio have great potential to become successful export products. Photo: Healthline.com
Tweet 
Share
The export of nuts from Georgia will exceed the export of wine in the near future, Andrei Yarmak, economist and expert at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told East Fruit, an international analytical platform for fruit and vegetables.
Andrei Yarmak said that walnuts, almonds and pistachios have great potential to become successful export products.
It so happened that mainly hazelnuts are produced in Georgia. Almonds and walnuts were not manufactured for industrial purposes, because people were not aware of their potential. However, today technologies exist for successful production”.
Andrei Yarmak said that Georgia’s natural climate may be better for walnuts than hazelnuts, though in both cases it is close to an ideal one.
Georgia’s natural environment is suitable for almonds. It is a very profitable crop. The country has areas where it can be easily produced. I think that the income from walnuts will exceed the income from wine in 10 or 15 years. Investors are eager to produce walnuts and hazelnuts in Georgia”, Andrei Yarmak told to East Fruit.
The expert also commented on the current situation of hazelnut production in Georgia, which was devastated by fungal diseases and the brown marmorated stink bug.
Andrei Yarmak expressed hope that the problem will be finally eliminated and there will be new opportunities in the Georgian nuts industry.
Georgia’s hazelnut industry has attracted the interest of Switzerland's largest retail company Migros Group.
Georgia is fostering hazelnut production by launching new rules to regulate hazelnut exports and imports, ensure goods are high quality and eliminate labelling issues.
To strengthen the country’s role as a major global hazelnut exporter, Georgia is launching a new program to increase the quality of exported nuts and sell them worldwide at a premium price to improve the economic livelihoods of more than 50,000 local hazelnut growers.
Georgia is fostering hazelnut production by launching a dedicated hazelnut sector development programme.
In January-November 2019 Georgia exported 10,879.4 tonnes worth $54.76 million of shelled and unshelled hazelnuts, which amounted to 1.6 per cent of total Georgian exports in this period, show data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia.
The European Union and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation awarded grants amounting to three million GEL to Georgian farmers in 2020, with the next stage of grants worth 2.6 million GEL in the process of being delivered, an end-of-year release by the international bodies said on Tuesday.