Despite being a predominantly rural country, Georgia suffers from extensive issues related to agricultural development. To this end, ENPARD, a European Union rural development program, has assisted with the establishment of a number of cooperatives throughout the country. The success stories of two of these prompted a recent visit by members of the Agricultural Policy Research Centre.

On 14th of September, Irakli Kochlamazishvili, Nino Kakulia and Daviti Zhorzholiani of the APRC visited the CARE Consortium office under the ENPARD project in Samtredia in the Imereti region to discuss the results of the Monitoring and Evaluation System survey and to receive the latest updates regarding the issues agriculture cooperatives face. Later that day, due to their good performances and financial and market figures, the trio visited two enterprises - Guriis Tkhili and Fermeri-2015 - to learn about their success stories.

The APRC representatives met with Lia Mukhashavria, the chair of the board of Guriis Tkhili, a nut producing company in the village of Shukhuti, Guria. They discussed the effects of the cooperative’s establishment in the village, as well as the challenges Guriis Tkhili faces and its future plans.

Later, on the same day, APRC representatives arrived in Ketilari, Samegrelo to meet with Zviad Tavidashvili who manages Fermeri-2015, a cereal producing cooperative, and interviewed him about his motivation for starting Fermeri-2015, ongoing problems and ways to solve them.

The data collected on the field trips to Guriis Tkhili and Fermeri-2015 will be scrutinized further to learn lessons from their experiences and gain a deeper insight into the issues facing Georgian agriculture.