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Euro 12 million project will be launched in Georgia
The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Levan Davitashvili and the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of FAO in Georgia, Raimund Jehle signed an agreement on implementing the five year agricultural development project under the third phase of the EU-funded European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD).
"Today we signed an EUR 12 million project agreement with the European Union to promote agricultural development in Georgia. Under the project, individual grants will be provided to small farmers, rural entrepreneurs. At the same time, the assistance will be continued to increase the capacity of the Ministry and which was implemented inprevious years within the first phase of ENPARD. With the help of the EU, the new phase of Georgia's agriculture and rural development is launched "said Levan Davitashvili.
Rural households, agricultural cooperatives and small and medium enterprises will have an access to financial resources. The agreement also includes improvement of services and production, capacity of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture will be further enhanced to encourage investment and improve overall competitiveness of the agricultural sector.
This is the goal of the new EUR 12 million project, which is implemented by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) within the frame of the European Neighborhood Program (ENPARD) phase III of the European Union (EU).
Under the terms of the agreement FAO supports the Ministry in effective policy-making, and with the implementation of the national Strategy for Agricultural Development 2015-2020. The project will offer pilot activities for farmers including various types of demonstration, information dissemination, and training events.
Since the first phase of ENPARD for Georgia began in 2013, FAO has been implementing projects in support of agricultural development here. The first two projects provided technical assistance to the Ministry and general capacity development to Ministry staff. FAO also helped implement specific components of the Strategy for Agricultural Development 2015-2020: development of agricultural cooperation, extension services, improvement of statistical and analytical capacities, value-chain development, and climate-smart agriculture. The new project under ENPARD III will be built on the results delivered by FAO in the first two phases
During ENPARD I and II, FAO developed the capacities of the national stakeholders. ENPARD III will capitalize on this,” said FAO’s Jehle. “The new project will further reach out to the farmers and the processors to have better access to good agricultural practices, modern knowledge and technologies."
The signing ceremony was attended by Attaché Christina Casella, programme manager of the Delegation of European Union to Georgia. She stressed the EU’s continuous commitment to helping improve the lives of Georgian citizens by supporting agriculture and rural development in the country.
The third stage of the program was announced by the Prime Minister of Georgia and the EU Ambassador to Georgia in December last year. In 2013, since the start of the ENPARD program, the European Union has strong and consistent support to Georgia for agriculture and rural development .
“Over the past years, we have strongly and consistently assisted the government in building the capacity of relevant institutions and improving policy-making and implementation in the sector,” she continued. “In recent years, ENPARD has generated new production models and stimulated modern services in agriculture. According to our estimate, around one third of Georgians in rural areas have benefitted in some way from the programme. Within the recently launched third phase of ENPARD, we continue our policy and technical advice to the government to help make the agricultural sector more competitive.”
Within the frame of the program, new production models were developed and encouraged to develop modern services in agriculture. According to our assessment, approximately one third of the rural population in Georgia has benefited from the ENPARD program.
Within the third phase of the new phase, we continue to support the government to increase the competitiveness of the agriculture sector, "said Christina Casale.
The European Union is supporting rural development in Georgia through its ENPARD Programme. Aiming to reduce rural poverty, ENPARD has been implemented since 2013, with a total budget of Euro 179.5 million. The first phase of ENPARD focused on developing national agriculture potential, while the second and third phases focus on creating economic opportunities for the rural population that go beyond agricultural activities. More information on ENPARD is available at: www.enpard.ge.