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

Agrarian Issues Committee, Parliament of Georgia heard the National Food Agency Report 2021

In the Agrarian Issues Committee, Parliament of Georgia, the First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Mr. George  Khanishvili summed up the challenges facing the food safety, veterinary, and plant protection fields and the measures planned for 2022. The Deputy Head of the Agency, Vasil Basiladze, and the Head of the Plant Protection Department, Nikoloz Meskhi presented the report on the activities of the National Food Agency for 2021 to the members of parliament.

It was noted that, in 2021, significant steps have been taken by the National Food Agency to diversify the export market - Jordan opened its market for Georgian live animals and meat products, while the EU allowed the export of snails;
 
According to the decision of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), the European Union has reduced the frequency of inspection of hazelnuts exported from Georgia at its border from 100% to 20%.

In 2021, the National Food Agency, within its mandate, undertook 25,621 state control procedures; 2414 violations were detected; As part of the monitoring, 3884 samples of food/drinking water were taken.
It is noteworthy, that results are significantly improved in veterinary drug residues in honey (out of 101 samples drug residues were detected in 3 samples), also lead content in spices (lead level was not detected in any of 761 samples in spices) and Sudan dye in non-animal food(Sudan dye was not detected in the samples of non-animal food) compared to previous years.

6,442,941 veterinary manipulations were performed across the country during 2021, including vaccination and laboratory tests, identification/registration, and treatment against external parasites during seasonal cattle movement.


As part of the veterinary control, 100% of the existing veterinary facilities were inspected for the first time across the country - state control was carried out in 1042 facilities, and 144 violations were detected in 2021. The laboratory did not reveal any abnormalities in the 196 veterinary drugs.
 
120,000 ha were treated against locusts in Eastern Georgia, 1300 ha against the American White Butterfly, 1300 ha in the Kakheti region, and 24,500 ha in the Kakheti and Shida Kartli regions, 6,840 ha in the Kakheti region against mosquitoes to protect plants. 
 
According to the state program, measures against the Asian stink bug were carried out in 33 municipalities - 6000 pheromone traps and 43,260 pheromone units were installed, up to 186,000 ha had undergone chemical treatment. The quality of crop yields and export potential increased as a result of the measures taken in 2021, the number of Asian stink bugs decreased, and the geographical area for introducing new species of brown marmorated bugs did not increase.
382 samples were taken to control the quality of pesticides and agrochemicals in 2021, including 332 pesticides and 50 agrochemicals.
There are about 700 specialized shops selling agrochemicals and pesticides across the country. The state-controlled inspection revealed a total of 157 violations, including violations of labeling, sales, storage conditions, sale of expired pesticides, etc.