Otar Shamugia expects huge citrus Fruit production

Tbilisi: Otar Shamugia, the minister of the Environment and Agriculture of Georgia expected that this year there would be a huge production of citrus fruits in the country. He expressed these views during a recent visit to the Citrus Processing Plant “Ave Wine Georgia Ltd”.

During his visit to the Processing plant Minister Otar Shamugia was accompanied by Minister of Agriculture Adjara Zaza Shavadze.

During their visit to the plant, all the Government representatives got acquainted with the process of substandard citrus delivery. 

It is worth mentioning that the “Georgian Industrial Asset Management Group” Ltd has started receiving raw materials from December 4, 2023.

Minister Otar Shamugia said “Citrus is one of the important income sources for farmers in Adjara and Guria region of Georgia. The Georgian government is helping farmers to maximise the production of their products. As of today, more than 26,000 tons of mandarins have been exported successfully.

“which is significantly higher than last year’s figures. Export prices are even higher this year than the previous year. It is worth noting that the decision of the Adjara government’s agriculture Ministry is subsidised; there is great support for the recycling part, too. We can say with surety that the process is goinng on actively and smoothly. And I think the season will be very successful for farmers. “added minister.

The chairman of the Adjara government also shared his thoughts on this occasion, and according to the statement of the Chairman of the Adjara Government Tornike Rizhvadze, with the decision of the local authorities, the subsidy for non-standard Mandarin has already been increased by ten tetri this year, and it actually was set to 25 tetri for 1 kg industrial mandarin. 

Five tetri are paid by the enterprise, the subsidy amount is added, and the farmer gets 30 tetri for the non-standard Mandarin delivered.

Tornike Rizhvadze stated, “According to the terms and conditions of our programs this year we will have a highly profitable year in terms of production. A record amount of citrus has already been exported to a number of countries. We should be able to make a collective effort not to leave a single kilogram of mandarins without realisation,” which will help the farmers in many ways.

Similarly, As per Adjara Minister of Agriculture Zaza Shavadze in order to organise the orange harvest, with the support of the Georgian Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture and the Adjara Government and the Adjara Ministry of Agriculture has established a coordinating headquarters for citrus realisation in the region. As a result of the work done by the headquarters with full dedication, the Mandarin delivery process is going very smoothly.

Furthermore, This year, according to the forecast data, the citrus harvest will be 55 thousand tons. More than 20 citrus processing plants get exported mandarins per season, as per the data.

Otar Shamugia also stated that with the consistent effort of the government, the production of citrus, as well as other products, continues to grow. This will make the economic conditions of the farmers more stable and strong in the future.