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

The representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture held a meeting with the farmers in Dedoplistskaro municipality , Kakheti region, aiming to share information on the threats caused by burning of agricultural waste. The Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Solomon Pavliashvili and Governor of Kakheti region Irakli Kadagishvili attended the meeting.

The participants noted, that harmful practice of burning vegetation waste in agricultural land should come to an end. The fire resulting from burning of waste is threatening windbreaks and infrastructure on the existing area, over the years it will cause the deterioration of soil properties, reduce productivity and ultimately will lead to the degradation of soil.

"The harmful practice of burning waste has been widely spread during the last decades, causing significant damage to the environment, biodiversity, causing desertification. Together we have to deal with this problem and combat such vandalism.

At the initial stage, with the involvement of the relevant agencies of the Ministry and local self-governments, the working groups will be established, which will undertake monitoring of the area. In parallel, we will start working to make some corrections in the penalty tariff, which will significantly help us to overcome this problem"said Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Solomon Pavliashvili.

As was noted, the fight against desertification, protection of soil and biodiversity is of utmost importance for the country. Accordingly, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture works actively in this direction. At the meeting, the sides discussed issues related to the threats caused by the burning of agricultural waste resulted in the destruction of windbreaks, causing wind erosion, changing micro climate, destruction of habitats, biodiversity degradation and reduction of oxygen.

The participants noted, that by burning of agricultural waste, dozens of hectares of agricultural lands were damaged in Dedoplistskaro municipality and some tens of kilometers of the windbreaks were destroyed by irresponsible farmers. 

The representatives of the relevant agencies of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Caucasus Regional Environmental Center (REC), German International Cooperation Society (GIZ) and local self-government attended the meeting in Dedoplistskaro Municipality.