Farmers affected by natural disaster to receive new seedlings

Farmers in Georgia whose seedlings are damaged or destroyed due to natural disasters will receive new, higher quality young plants as part of a new programme of 'Plant the Future', Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announced at today's government meeting.

He said that the new programme will apply to grapevines as well.

The first farmers who will receive the seedlings as part of the new programme will be those affected by natural disasters that took place in the country after July 15, 2020.

Gakharia explained that the agriculture insurance project that was launched in 2014 covered only the risk of losing a harvest as a result of a natural disaster and not the seedlings themselves.

In July we had a natural disaster in several regions. Kakheti and Racha were especially affected by hail... As of today, we have seen that many of our farmers have lost their seedlings as a result of hail, and we have decided to create a new programme that will enable farmers to receive new, higher quality seedlings. Most importantly, this applies to grapevines as well", Gakharia said.

The agricultural insurance policy covers insurance risks such as: hail, floods, hurricanes, autumn frosts. In 2020, the budget for the programme will amount to 9 million GEL. 

This year, it is planned to issue more than 15,000 insurance policies and insure more than 12,000 hectares of agricultural land. 

Any individual or business who owns or used agricultural land registered in the National Agency of Public Registry will be eligible to be a beneficiary of the programme.