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

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''Within the new state program, 37 thousand hectares of hazelnut orchards have already been registered'' - stated Otar Shamugia.

"Last Autumn, we launched a campaign to promote hazelnuts. The first step was to map out the areas and create a cadastre. We hired and trained about 150 young people. They were actively engaged in the process. We went to every village and served our farmers.
I would like to thank, first and foremost, the farmers for their efforts, the local government, and the young people of our agency, the employees who have worked extremely hard," Mr. Otar Shamugia, Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture stated with the media representatives after the government session.

According to the Minister, currently, 37,000 hectares of hazelnut orchards are registered in the cadastre. The number of owners and co-owners of hazelnut orchards exceeds 85 thousand.

"We were capable of implementing large-scale actions in a relatively short time, within around three months. The registration process in the hazelnut cadastre will continue until April. Farmers will be able to register for the program by visiting municipal centers and the advisory services of the Rural Development Agency.

As soon as the registration process comes to an end, the relevant data will be provided to Liberty Bank, and our farmers, owners of hazelnut orchards will be granted points on their cards; As you know, assistance ensures up to GEL 500 per hectare, which can be used to purchase plant care products", said Mr. Otar Shamugia.
The Minister also addressed Asian stink bug-related control measures, noting that, this year,  the National Food Agency will actively continue implementing control measures against the brown marmorated stink bug.

Overall, with our joint efforts, together with farmers and our services, we will get a much better quality and quantity of crop this year, which, I believe, will give more opportunities to our farmers." As you know, hazelnuts are one of the crops with a high export rate. Last year, approximately $100 million worth of hazelnut was exported, mainly to EU markets.

I think this program will be successful. By using plant care products, farmers will be able to harvest better quality and quantity of hazelnuts," said the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.