MOLI stands for “Market Opportunities for Livelihood Improvement” in Kakheti. The project started in autumn 2012 and initially focused on milk and meat producers in the eastern part of the Kakheti region. It now operates in all eight municipalities of the region. In the second phase of the project, MOLI aims to reduce poverty in the Kakheti region while facilitating improved access to milk, beef, and pork markets, and easing farmers’ access to inputs and services. Furthermore, MOLI focuses on cultivating a business-enabling environment with the conviction that sustainability can only be achieved when the conditions for doing business are conducive, foresighted, and agreed upon by all stakeholders.

In its efforts to develop the livestock market system, so far MOLI has targeted small farmers with 5-10 cows and pigs. If those farms have no potential to survive or become larger, then new options have to be investigated. As resources are limited, a severe restructuration of the agricultural sector seems inevitable unless cooperation arrangements can buffer or soften such a drastic process. There is thus a need to prepare for a future that is still characterized by a number of smaller farmers, but who are well integrated into business arrangements with other market system players.

To better understand current farm enterprise models and their possibilities for addressing deficiencies in current livestock farming systems in Kakheti, MOLI has commissioned a study to document and analyze existing relationships between livestock farmers and enterprises in the region. The resulting models are characterized by cooperation between farmers and various types of entrepreneurs.