The FINANCIAL — A European Union programme supporting agriculture and rural development (ENPARD), helping Georgia to increase the country’s agricultural production and strengthen its rural economy, has ended its first phase with EUR 52 million. Up to 200 cooperatives with approximately 1,700 farmers have been selected, trained and funded with nearly GEL 1.4 million within the ENPARD programme. ENPARD cooperation schemes have contributed to a significant reduction of the production costs of farmers.
Last week Georgian media representatives were hosted by UNDP in the villages of the Adjaran highlands and visited berry and hazelnut plantations, trout farms and greenhouses. We received first-hand information about the challenges faced by small farmers, successes of agriculture cooperatives, and the role of agriculture cooperation in boosting rural development in Georgia.
“It is encouraging to see that the assistance offered by the European Union and our cooperation with UNDP, the Government of Georgia and local partners is making farming more efficient and bringing new prospects to the rural areas. In Adjara alone, ENPARD assisted more than 70 farmers’ cooperatives. Over ten thousand small farmers benefitted from our services,” said Janos Herman, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia.
ENPARD was launched in Georgia in 2013 with the aim to reinvigorate the agriculture and the rural sector in the country by supporting the Government’s Agriculture Sector Strategy, strengthening small farmers’ organizations and enabling sustainable rural development.
The programme is composed of a variety of aid modalities, from direct budget support to the Government, through technical assistance and small grants to NGOs. In Georgia ENPARD (Phase I) budget covering the period of 2013-2016 is EUR 52 million.
Over the past three years of operation in the country, ENPARD has been successful in different directions: the efficiency of institutions involved in agriculture has improved. The programme, with its financial and technical support, has provided capacity building for the Ministry of Agriculture and its line agencies in a number of ways: the Strategy of Agricultural Development in Georgia 2015-2020 was developed; Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms were created; An effective coordination system with donors and other line agencies was developed; Human resources appraisal, training and development programmes were created and implemented; 59 extension service centres providing information and consultation to farmers and the rural population (more than 3,000 farmers consulted per month) have been established throughout Georgia; State aid programmes supporting agriculture development and farmers’ certification programmes were created; International standard laboratories were created.
“The success of the programme ENPARD in Adjara is the result of proactive cooperation with the national and regional government. The programme is coming to an end this month but we look forward to launching its next stage to continue our assistance to rural development in Adjara and the other regions of Georgia,” said Niels Scott, Head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Georgia.
UNDP has provided support to Adjara over a number of years in business development. UNDP assisted in the preparation of a local development strategy and creation of a Business Incubator in Batumi, currently a major provider of business development services in Adjara.
UNDP support to trade development focuses mainly on agriculture and aims at facilitating access to local and international markets, establishing supply chains, including in the tourism industry. Trade-related services are provided to farmers and SMEs through a Trade Promotion Centre based in the Batumi Business Incubator. Services include assessment of marketing opportunities for agricultural products and assisting clients of the Agroservice Centre in preparing business and marketing plans and in developing supply chains.
ENPARD was implemented in Ajara in 2013-2016. The total budget of ENPARD Ajara is EUR 3.3 million with up to EUR 3 million from the European Union and the rest from the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara.
According to the Agricultural Cooperatives Development Agency (ACDA) data, today up to 1,300 small farmer cooperatives uniting nearly 10,000 small farmers are registered in the country. From these, up to 200 cooperatives with approximately 1,700 farmers have been selected, trained and funded with nearly GEL 1.4 million within the ENPARD programme. Thanks to the ENPARD cooperation schemes, the production costs of farmers have significantly decreased.
Trout farming Peranga has received EUR 38,000 from ENPARD. Currently their production reaches over 15-20 tons. According to Genadi Beridze, Director of the Cooperative, in 2015 ENPARD provided a special vehicle for transporting live fish. “Before that we were transporting fish via mini-bus. Out of 300 kilos of fish, 100 kilos (or 30%) of live fish would die.” The new vehicle reduced Peranga’s expenditure by over 30-35%.
The future plans of Peranga include allocating expenditure for a pool to store live fish in. The price per kilo of Peranga trout is GEL 8.10.
Beekeeping NatureGift owns up to 200 beehives. ENPARD has provided a honeycomb machine for the company, worth USD 15,000. Previously the company used to produce it by hand.
In total, 77 farmer cooperatives have been established within the ENPARD programme in Adjara.
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