FAO presents results of EU-financed €12mln programme at ENPARD phase III closing event

The Food and Agriculture Organisation on Saturday held a “multi-stakeholder” event marking the closing of the European Union-financed €12 million project under the ENPARD III programme and showcased the achieved results to the participants in Tbilisi, the FAO said.

Opening remarks were delivered by Nino Tandilashvili, the deputy environment minister and Javier Sanz Alvarez, the FAO-EU programme coordinator, as well as Georges Dehoux, the programme manager for agriculture, fisheries and food safety at the EU delegation to Georgia, at the event which was centred around agricultural value-chain development, food safety, access to finance, best agriculture practices, and future possibilities.

Photo: The Food and Agriculture Organisation representation in Georgia

Alvarez presented summarising results and said the FAO had been “successfully supporting the development of Georgia’s agriculture since 2013 through the technical support to improve “state policies in agriculture, facilitated access to finance for farmers and companies, and training farmers in good agricultural practices”, noting “fruitful” partnerships with “key” state institutions and the private sector in the country had proved the “full” potential to develop the agricultural sector and demonstrated the benefits of sustainable agrifood systems development in local communities. 

I would like to thank the environment ministry and its subordinated agencies, as well as the Georgian parliament and other stakeholders. The constructive and productive relationships which we have been establishing with them [...] have truly accelerated progress toward the advancement of the agriculture sector, which is more systematised, inclusive, productive, and competitive on an international level”, Juba Maruashvili, the FAO policy advisor said.

Within the framework of the event, the FAO-EU project beneficiaries also participated in the business-to-business matchmaking session, which was organised to promote networking opportunities between the programme’s beneficiaries and discuss challenges and opportunities in agrifood systems in Georgia, as a result of which farmers and producers received “in-depth information” about the results of the programme.

Photo: The Food and Agriculture Organisation representation in Georgia

With allocating more than $6.2 million of matching grants, ENPARD III financially supported over 350 farmers and producers in Georgia and fostered around $15 million of direct investment in the agricultural sector of the country, creating more than 1,500 jobs and increasing productivity of the programme beneficiaries, as well as turnover.

The FAO added that the extension component of the programme had provided valuable technical assistance and service provision to more than 1,900 people in several regions of Georgia and through the support of the EU, the FAO policy team had worked “extensively” with the environment ministry and other governmental stakeholders, providing technical support to develop and implement policies.