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

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Otar Shamugia inspected the refrigeration plant created with the support of the Rural Development Agency

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Mr. Otar Shamugia together with Irakli Shioshvili, State Representative in Kakheti Region met with local farmers in Gurjaani Municipality and got acquainted with the ongoing preparatory works, regarding peach harvesting, handling, storing and selling. 

“Farmers informed us about their needs. Peach season will start soon, which will be followed by wheat and barley harvests. We will have headquarters that will function and coordinate the harvesting and storing process, which will involve the local government as well.

"We will do our best to handle/ store crop in time so that farmers will not face problems in this area," said Mr. Otar Shamugia, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.
The Minister inspected the refrigeration plant created with the support of the Rural Development Agency, which was set up by farmer Givi Nebunishvili in the village of Vachnadziani in Gurjaani Municipality in 2020. 
Currently, preparatory works are being underway at the refrigeration farm for selling the strawberries.

During the meeting, the Minister noted, that within the framework of the state projects, about 40 refrigeration plants have been financed and created in two years, which has significantly facilitated storing and exporting of the peach crop.

Peach exports have increased approximately 2.5 times in the last 2 years.

Givi Nebunishvili invested GEL 350,000 in the creation of a modern refrigeration plant with the state financial support, out of which GEL 300,000 is preferential agro-credit. Up to 100 tonnes of fruit can be stored in the aforementioned refrigerator. The enterprise seasonally hires 40 people.

Wthin the framework of the preferential agro-credit project, more than 150 loans exceeding  GEL 31 million have been issued for the development of refrigeration infrastructure in the Kakheti region,, whereby, the co-financing issued by the Rural Development Agency is more than GEL 3 million.