The European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development in Georgia (ENPARD Georgia) was implemented in March 2013. The main goal of the ENPARD program is to reduce rural poverty in Georgia.1 The total budget of the program is 102 million EUR.

This report covers the process and results from the value chain analysis conducted on the hazelnut sector in West Georgia. The study presents a basis to shape interventions of the forthcoming ‘Phase II: Fairtrade & Organic Hazelnut Value Chain Development for Small Farmers in Western Georgia’ project, which is to be implemented by the Consortium (ELKANA, HEKS/EPER, ANKA and PAKKA) with the financial support of DANIDA.

This volume brings together eight case studies of young Georgian entrepreneurs, men and women who had the courage to take a risk and set up their own businesses. The eight case studies allow readers to accompany these entrepreneurs on the challenging journey of doing business in a very difficult environment, with very limited access to finance, knowledge and modern technology.

The unique cross-country study compares interest rates for a set of retail credit products in Georgia and select transition economies. Preliminary findings suggest that the cost of credit in Georgia is lower than in the CIS countries which have been covered by the survey (namely, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and in many cases Armenia) while it’s somewhat higher compared to a cohort of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE) - this is true especially for local currency loans.

In the present era of environmental and industrial change, maintaining biodiversity is essential. Doing so not only protects species and habitats, but also brings benefits for society in the form of resulting ecosystem services. In order to conserve biodiversity and fulfill the obligations defined by various international conventions and the Association Agreement (AA), the Georgian Ministry of Environment and Natural Resource Protection (MoENRP) initiated the Law on Biodiversity in 2015.

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.