Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

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Georgian government offering minimum amount of guarantees to vine growers is a sense of solidarity expressed by society, as far as, the accumulated funds belong to our Georgian taxpayers" declared Levan Davitashvili

"Numerous procedures have been determined and included in the government decree on grape harvest supporting measures. The working group will be established at the Ministry, which will be accountable for the coordination and management in the work organization process.  Vine growers will not face problems, they will be able to store their products without standing in the queues.

Our winegrowers worried about subsidies and felt anxious about minimum, social guarantees . We held a discussion for several days to highlight issues related to the state intervention in the grape harvest. We declare, that certain financial resources are already envisaged in the state budget to overcome the problems caused by the pandemic and we are taking measures to conduct a grape harvest in an organized manner. 

 Large companies with the capacity to process more than 1,000 tons of Rkatsiteli or Kakhetian green grapes will ultimately have an excessive amount of grapes, thereby, the private sector alone will not be able to store grapes without offering them certain incentives. Accordingly, the grapes of Kakhetian Mtsvane and Rkatsiteli will cost at least 80 tetri this year. This means that we have provided some social guarantees for viticulturists.
Georgian government developed stimulation measures for other grape varieties, namely, Saperavi grape variety or other rare species as well. Moreover, this support also includes, that our business operators, wine companies and grape spirits companies should have an access to cheap working capital.  

This is our support for business sector, we make endeavors to raise their interest to plant, grow and harvest more grapes at a higher price.
Farmers should get paid to fully cover their expenses, on the other hand,  farmers should make a profit, they should increase their motivation and willingly continue working in the winery /viticulture field. 

In these difficult circumstances, we have created and started offering minimum amount of guarantees to our winegrowers. In my opinion, this is the most significant achievement and a sense of solidarity showing to our Georgian society. We should also mention, that accumulated funds belong to Georgian taxpayers. This is a sense of solidarity for viticulturists to appreciate their work and support them throughout 2020 grape harvest season to face less problems.
Last year, the grape price was 70 tetri and this year it amounts to 80 tetri , which is an absolutely decent price. 
All decisions concerning business and the viticulture sector are agreed with the farmers.

The National Wine Agency  runs an intensive negotiations, holding meetings with the entrepreneurs, both large and small producers, winegrowers. We keep regular communication and are in agreement, that all our decisions should be focused on the development of the sector and should not hinder the development of the sector "- said Levan Davitashvili.