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Deputy Minister Nozadze and USAID/Georgia Mission Director Peter Wiebler scrutinize international practices of potato industry development
The new development approaches of the International Potato Center (CIP) and establishment of the Georgia Potato Forum has been discussed by Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA), Mr Iuri Nozadze at a remote meeting. The Forum will foster enhancement of potato industry in Georgia and deployment of the relevant institutional amendments, which will stimulate the process of transferring potato from a field to a market. In the course of the meeting, Mission Director Wiebler touched upon that Georgian farmers are encountering numerous challenges.
“The International Potato Center (CIP) has an outstanding record of cooperation with the MEPA as well as private sector. Enhancement of potato industry of Georgia has resulted from the latter cooperation, which translated into cultivating innovative technologies and applying new varieties of potatoes. The Government fosters and aspires to establish the Georgia Potato Forum for complementing profitability and sustainability of the potato industry” – Deputy Minister Nozadze stated.
“Deployment and fostering of the participatory market chain approach (PMCA) will stimulate Georgian farmers to produce topnotch quality and amount of potatoes. The Forum will translate into boosting quality and income. Frankly speaking, development of Georgia’s potato industry will derive from solid cooperation between the Government, private sector, investors and other international donors” – Mission Director Wiebler stated.
The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have financially supported the Georgia Potato Forum, which will dwell on areas complementing dynamic possibilities for production and technological innovations.