Georgia has commented the first Olympic tournament and the winners have been awarded by the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Levan Davitashvili and Mr Mamuka Meskhi, Assistant Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in Georgia.  “The National Agrarian Olympic Tournament has embraced attendance of specialists, farmers, students and pupils. In frames of the Tournament, highly competent tests have been drafted. Frankly speaking, we have successfully organized the first Tournament, that has cultivated a beautiful tradition and has fulfilled the expectations, which has also resulted into number of applicants. The Tournament has a capacity to boost interest on the rural-agrarian field, as well as agricultural development, in the future. I am convinced that we will have more applicants interested in the tournament; more winners will ensure an increased visibility of environmental education and agricultural development” – Minister Davitashvili stated.  The Agrarian Olympic Tournament entails four categories – specialist, student, farmer and pupil. The competition thematic spans across 7 areas – agronomy, veterinary, wine technology, food technology, mechanization, forestry and combined matters for pupils (agriculture, biodiversity, environmental protection and ecology). The national platform has embraced 755 applications; the two-stage selection process has identified 37 winners of the first National Agrarian Olympic Tournament. “We have awarded the winners of the first National Olympic Competition; I would like to extend my special appreciation toward the school pupils, who are our future. The pupils have not yet chosen their career paths and are already interested into agriculture and are applying for the contest. I do regard the latter aspect of the Competition as an immense achievement” - Mamuka Meskhi, Assistant FAO Representative in Georgia. The tournament was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC)'s South Caucasus Office and the Association for the Agriculture Development. The partners of the Tournament are the USAID Agriculture Program, GRETA / Green Economy project: sustainable mountain tourism and organic agriculture, the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), Environmental Information and Education Centre (EIEC). 

Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Solomon Pavliashvili attended a working meeting in frames of the EU4Environment project, which enjoyed presence of 25 attendees from various state institutions. In the course of the sessions, the national strategy and national plan for waste management (2016 – 2020) and an entailing priorities and needs have been identified; moreover, attendees scrutinized new action plan (2016 – 2020). “Elaboration of the new national action plan for waste management will be of highest priority upon deployment of the circular economy” – Deputy Minister stated. At the working meeting, Bruno Pozzi, the Director of the Europe Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) briefed about the efforts from the Georgian counterparts for harmonizing the EU Directives to local system of waste management. “The UNEP will proceed working with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, to ensure deployment of the successful practice, as well as elaborating the national action plan for the period of 2022 – 2026”- Mr Pozzi stated. The project EU4Environment is a regional initiative, which is implemented by the Europe Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), together with the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus (REC Caucasus). 

Do you care about environmental issues? Would you like to spread awareness for the value of forests and energy efficiency?The programme “Management of natural resources and safeguarding of ecosystem services for sustainable rural development in the South Caucasus” (ECOserve) is announcing a call for proposals for NGOs to raise awareness on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) incl. Energy Efficiency/Alternative Energy (EE/AE) in particular engage  the youth in different activities on national level and locally in Akhmeta municipality through their awareness raising and educationThe objective of the call is to support the identification and implementation of gender-specific awareness raising measures on SFM incl. EE/AE with the special focus on youth (Age group: 14 to 29).We are interested in innovative, creative ideas. The proposals from NGOs should be submitted in English language on E-mail: ECOserve@giz.de describing how to inform and educate young people about:•The value of forests (in terms of ecosystem services, climate change mitigation and adaptation).•Energy Efficiency - related to the use of firewood and insulation.Proposal should include:•Introduction/description of the NGO (half page)•Content of the campaign, including key messages and how they will be communicated (2 pages)•Timetable of the planned campaign (1 page)•Detailed budget (max. 1 page)•Answers to the given questions (see questions attached)NGOs will be provided with: Environmental KAP survey – knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to the management of natural resources and safeguarding of ecosystem services for sustainable rural development in Georgia (1) and Forest Sector Communication Strategy and action plan (2). These documents may serve as a guide and inspiration for your proposals.Who can participate? -  Any NGO can apply for the call, no matter how big their experience is. Allocated budget: up to GEL 100,000.Deadline for the submission: 9th of August.A jury consisting of GIZ, MEPA, NFA and RDA representatives will evaluate the proposals. Feedback will be provided by 16th of August.Implementation period is 10 weeks and should take place from 6th of September to 15th of November 2021.For additional questions please contact:Mariam TatarashviliTel.: 599961121;E-mail: mariam.tatarashvili@giz.de 

Harvesting the yield is in an active mode in Shida Kartli region. The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia has visited the village of Shindisi, Gori municipality together with the State Trustee of the Shida Kartli region, Mr Valerian Mchedlidze. The Minister and the State Trustee observed yield harvest (also known as “Alooba” in Georgia) by the company “Silk Water Group”. “Alooba is in an active mode. Harvesting actions simultaneously span across Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions, which does cause certain challenges in terms of collection and storage efforts. Frankly speaking, the most challenging period has already been passed and the vast majority of the harvest has been accommodated. This year, yield is of an outstanding quality, in terms of qualitative as well as quantitative terms. The respective outcome has resulted from numerous systemic changes and decisions. We shall also stress out capacity building of our farmers and shaping their experience, which assist them in deploying modern approaches, that boost fertility and protection of the soil; we can produce high-quality wheat and barley. Therefore, we will intensify our efforts targeting enhancement of crop industry, which will be translated into a simplified access to seeds and mechanization, as well as certification, knowledge among the farmers, modern technologies and the best practices; we will proceed with making efforts toward quality control, which will be an important step toward protection of farmers’ interests and fair competitiveness” – Minister Davitashvili stated. The Black Water Group is a producer of more than 120 hectares of Georgian variety of “Lomtagora” wheat, as well as 50 hectares of barley and 100 hectares of burclover; the company also ensures crop rotation as an effective effort for soil fertility. Nowadays, crop cultures are being collected without an impediments and through agricultural schedule; nationwide, LTD  ,,Agricultural Logistics and Services Company" has mobilized around 95 combines, which have made it possible to already collect/accommodate around 14, 000 hectares of space in Shida Kartli, Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions. In the village of Shindisi, harvest collection efforts were attended by the first Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Giorgi Khanishvili and Director of the Agricultural Development Agency, Mr Ilia Tamarashvili.

Today, at the session of the Government of Georgia, Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr Irakli Gharibashvili appointed Mr Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and Ms Tea Tsulukiani, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport as the Vice-Prime Ministers of Georgia.There are three Vice-Prime Ministers in the cabinet of Ministers; the respective position is also held by Mr Davit Zalkaliani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Levan Davitashvili delivered opening remarks at the special occasion dedicated to the Day of Georgian Milk. Minister Davitashvili expressed his gratitude to the donor organizations for complementing creation of the “Georgian Milk” trade mark, which will enable customers to differentiate between raw and processed milks. “The milk sector plays a crucial role in the agriculture. In fact, the Ministry-elaborated technical regulations on milk quality have tremendously transformed trust matters toward milk products. The respective regulation has already been translated into safe production. Attendees of the Day of Georgian Milk has united medium and small producers under the trade mark; there are thousands of farmers that are standing by these farmers. Therefore, it is crucial to assist farmers and unions; moreover, we shall facilitate trade marks, which also serves as a core aspect of the Ministry’s policy” – Minister Davitashvili stated. “In frames of the occasion, several successful producers of milk processing enterprises serve as a solid proof for a successful state policy, which is deployed by the Ministry. Currently, production derived from raw milk will be fostered for export, as well as replacing import” – MP Nino Tsilosani, Chairperson of the Agrarian Issues Committee of the Parliament stated.The event also enjoyed presence of MP Khatia Tsilosani, the first Deputy Chairperson of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament. MP Tsilosani joined attendees of the occasion in commemorating the Day of the Georgian Milk.The occasion was attended by more than 20 attendees which are milk products producers and was organized by the “Business Institute of Georgia”. The respective organization also serves as an organization authorized to assign marks for Georgian milk. Beyond promoting Georgian milk products – the occasion aims at fostering cooperation between representatives of milk products’ producers, restaurants, cafes, hotels and trade establishments that own the HACCP. 

Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Levan Davitashvili visited the new freezer enterprises in the village of Kvarkhiti of the Gori municipality. “Our policies are not fragmental but quite consistent and systemic. On the third year of the “Plant the Future” program, we have launched co-funding of the storage and freezer enterprises. Throughout these years, several enterprises have been launched through co-funding; in 2021, we have accepted more applications and statements of interest, than before. It will be an increasing progress; the Ministry-supported intensive gardens make up nearly 14-15 thousand hectares and require an adequate storage-processing infrastructure. The latter inquires that there is a need for hundreds of freezer enterprises, similar to the “Tiriphomi Fruit”. A ten-year plan of the Government deploys actions, which will complement actions in a systematic manner and result into co-funding of supply chain at large; as a result, Georgian production will be of high quality and competitive” – Minister Davitashvili stated. Freezer enterprise of the company “Tiriphomi Fruit” has been equipped with Italian and German modern technologies and through the state funding. The freezer can accommodate 1000 tonnes of fruit and has been awarded with 600, 000 GEL via storage enterprise co-funding program, while the preferential credit amounts into 1,5 million GEL. Moreover, in frames of the technical assistance program, food safety management system in freezer enterprises ISO 22 000 will be adopted.In frames of the Rural Development Agency, 50 freezer and storage enterprises will be supported, nationwide; A total funding has exceeded 23, 8 million GEL.