The agricultural cooperative movement started a few years ago in Georgia and the registered farmer groups are currently still at the embryonic stage of development. The Soviet legacy and rather negative attitude towards earlier forms of cooperation (Kolkoz and Sovkhoz) has gradually faded among farmers, and today more than 1,400 cooperatives are registered with the Agricultural Cooperative Development Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia.

As a freshwater resource-rich Caucasian country, Georgia is well-positioned to produce high quality trout in its mountains. However, the Georgian trout sector is struggling and faces a number of constraints to further development.

Georgia is one of the northernmost tea producing countries in the world. The humid and subtropical Black Sea climate creates ideal conditions for growing tea in five regions of Western Georgia: Adjara, Guria, Samegrelo, Imereti and Abkhazia.

The concept of food security (FS) is holistic and brings together the notions of the availability of sufficient amounts of food, access to food, food utilization (including nutrition aspects) and stability in the food supply.

This project aims to support the development of business-oriented small farmer groups (e.g., agricultural cooperatives) with the goals of increasing agricultural productivity and reducing rural poverty in Georgia.