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Levan Davitashvili: "Considering the quality of citrus, 2019 will be extremely successful for farmers"
The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili together with the Chairman of Government of Adjara Tornike Rizhvadze and Minister of Agriculture of Adjara Tite Aroshidze got acquainted with the activities of the Citrus Coordination Center in Batumi.
“Considering the quality of citrus, 2019 will be extremely successful for farmers. Tangerine harvest season reaches its peak. Tangerine is one of the best industrial crops and sources of income of the residents in Adjara and Guria regions.
Therefore, organizational works are undertaken in Adjara region. This year, we have a quality crop that is directly related to the prices of citrus. We have good results in terms of market diversification. The main markets are traditionally Ukraine and Russia, although demand has been increased in Central Asia and Belarus as well; The export market areas are increasing” Levan Davitashvili said.
The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture noted, that the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara will provide subsidies in cases of necessity. All resources are mobilized to ensure farmers not to face problems in delivering their citrus. Enterprises are fully prepared to make the tangerine harvest as smooth as possible.
The representatives of the government paid a visit to the citrus processing company Ltd "Georgian Mandarin" in Kobuleti municipality and got acquainted with the citrus delivering process.
This year, ‘’Georgian Mandarin’’ plans to receive up to 1,000 tons of standard citrus fruit and process up to 20,000 tons of non-standard – poor quality tangerine, out of which concentrated juice will be produced.
As of today, 7 900 tones of standard tangerines have been exported. Slovenia, Singapore, Lithuania and Qatar were added to our traditional markets (Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan).
With the support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia and the Government of Adjara, the Ministry of Agriculture of Adjara has set a citrus coordination headquarter to make the 2019 tangerine harvest and delivery process as smooth as possible.