Georgia's struggling ag sector

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Agriculture in Georgia, the former Soviet satellite state, consists mostly of small-scale subsistence operations, but the government wants to re-invigorate an industry that has been in decline for 10 years. Enter the embattled Boer farmers of South Africa, where an estimated 3,000 have been killed.

The British Economist newspaper refers to "rural land ownership (as) a particularly contentious part of apartheid's legacy."

According to a study published by the European Centre for Minority Issues in January, the government of Georgia has invited Boers to take over farmland (See the website http://www.boers.ge/). But, while 90 farmers are known to have visited Georgia, only five have purchased. There are problems with landownership in Georgia as well, and long-neglected small operators fear being pushed off.

Georgia is estimated to import 70 per cent of its food, and farms less than 50 per cent of its arable land. Agricultural activities have dropped by 20 per cent since 2005 and sown acres by 43 per cent. In 1990, there were four million cattle. Now there are 1.7 million. The average farm is less than a hectare and only five per cent are larger than two hectares.

Konstantine Kobakhidze, head of the Department for Rural Development at the Ministry of Agriculture, states that local Georgian farmers do not have the "opportunity, ability or willingness to expand their business."

Government spending on agriculture was 0.7 per cent of the budget in 2010. BF