Government to subsidise the 2020 grape harvest

The government of Georgia will subsidise the 2020 grape harvest, especially grape varieties of Rkatsiteli and Kakhuri Mtsvane in order to support farmers completely sell their produce, announces Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia.

Gakharia said that the price of Rkatsiteli and Kakhuri Mtsvane will not be less than 80 tetri.

He also added that in case of extreme necessity, the government will be involved in the purchase of grapes.

A budget has already been allocated for the subsidy.

One of the targets of the government's anti-crisis plan is villages, Georgian farmers. We did our best to help these people, to strengthen Georgian farmers during the crisis. In addition, everyone knows how winemaking has been developing in recent years. 2019 was a record year when 94 million bottles of wine were exported from Georgia", Gakharia said.

In addition to the government’s anti-crisis plan that also supports the wine sector, the government extended the agro-credit programme which now covers the wine industry as well, and will help wineries overcome problems caused by the pandemic.

The volume of grapes processed during the 2019 harvest in Georgia reached 271,000 tonnes, which was the highest harvest vol over the last 30 years, said the Georgian National Wine Agency.

Traditionally, the wine harvest begins in September in Georgia’s winemaking regions – Kakheti, Imereti and Racha.