Tbilisi: In a government briefing session, the Minister for Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Otar Shamugia, stressed the nut production programme, that was launched to promote the overall yield and the quality of nuts.
Shamugia stated: Last autumn we started a nut promotion program. The first task was to identify the areas and create a cadastre. Recruiting over 150 young people we trained. They were actively involved in the process. We went to every village and served our farmers.
I would like to thank first of all the farmers for their activism, the local government and the youth of our agency, the staff who have put in a very hard work,” said Environment and Agriculture Minister Otar Shamugia in a brief meeting with the media after the end of the government meeting.
As the Minister noted, as of today, 37 thousand hectares of nut garden is registered in the cadastre under the nut production programme. The number of garden owners, including co-owners, is more than 85 thousand.
“We were able to carry out large-scale measures in a very short period of time.” The registration process in the nut cadastre will continue until April. Farmers will have the opportunity to go to municipal centres and register for the Rural Development Agency consulting services in the program.
As soon as the process is complete, relevant data will be provided to Liberty Bank and our farmers; the nut farm owners will be given points on the cards; as you are aware, an aid of 500 GEL per 1 hectare is provided to buy plant care facilities,” said Otar Shamugia.
The Minister also talked about the measures against Asian measles and noted that the National Food Agency would continue to carry out such activities against Asian measles this year.
“Together, just with farmers and our jobs, we will be able to have a much better quality and quantity of crops this year, which I believe will give our farmers more opportunities. Do you know that nuts are one of those agricultural products with a very high export rate.
Last year, about 100 million dollars were exported, mainly to EU countries. I believe this program will be a success. Using plant-based means, farmers will be able to get better quality and larger nut yields,” the Environment and Agriculture Minister said.
