The history of Georgian tea began in 1897 when Lao Cheng Zhao came from China to the imperial estate in the village of Chakvi. Lao, whose house still stands on the seashore, brought high-quality tea seeds to the country; and the first tea was harvested in 1902. The product is now so bad that local tea growers call poor-quality tea “Lao-class”. However, in 1903, Chakvi tea began to win prizes at international exhibitions.
Georgian tea was the best of all teas produced in the USSR and competed successfully with Ceylon and Indian teas. However, as a...
ISET Economist Blog
A blog about economics in the South Caucasus.
Sep
13
May
01
A recent blogpost on tractor service stations generated an interesting discussion in the comment section. Well worth a read, in particular this insightful comment by Ulrich Koester:
It is a very interesting discussion. Possibly I can contribute somewhat as I am a grown up farm boy, a ‘skilled agricultural worker with exam’ and an agricultural economist and a general economist.
To clarify the issue it might be helpful to look at the experience of other countries, such as Germany. We have small farms in some regions which could be much better of eithe...
Apr
17
I have just heard that the French retail giant Carrefour is entering Georgia. This is good news. Carrefour is the master or combining low prices with the high (or at least decent) quality. It is also an inventor of hypermarket concept. Good quality price ratio and convenience are things the Georgian consumer is craving for.
But there is much more to this fact than pure benefit for the Georgian customer. As the worlds second largest retailer, after Walmart, Carrefour commands the supply chain that circles the globe. For example, my milk, as Carrefour cust...
Apr
10
One of the recurring themes of Soviet propaganda was the tractor. Think for example of the film “Zemlya” by Alexander Dovzhenko, which features the triumphant arrival of the first tractor in a village and leaves no doubt that communism is to thank. Fast forward eighty years and this press release leaves no doubt that the President of Georgia is to thank for the arrival of 126 tractors to Georgia.
The tractors will be allocated to 12 service centers across Georgia, giving small farmers access to modern agricultural equipment. It s...
Mar
22
The very sharp seasonal fluctuations in the prices of many agricultural products in Georgia are indicative of the state of the Georgian agricultural sector. Agriculture provides a safety net for a very large number of jobless people who might otherwise be starving, and thus serves a very important social function. However, many of those employed in agriculture are individual subsistence farmers, lacking in skills and resources to move to the next level in terms of productivity.
Small farmers all over the world have a hard time coping with the risks inher...
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