The livestock sector plays a significant role in Georgian agriculture, accounting for more than half of total output. Although livestock farming is spread throughout the country, agriculture is dominated by livestock in the mountains, which cover over 50% of Georgian territory. The livestock sector contributed to around 4% of the country’s overall GDP in 2018, and dairy production remains one of the most traditional Georgian agricultural sub-sectors.

Back in ancient times, the moon was the center of everybody’s attention. People worshipped the moon and believed that it had mystical powers. Since then, the lunar effect on human mood and behavior has been an issue for psychological and astrological research. Surprisingly, many economic papers are also concerned about the influence of the lunar phases on stock returns.

On October 20th, representatives of APRC presented the final results of its study on Livestock Farm-Enterprise Models in the Kakheti Region. The presentation was the final part of a study that started in June 2016, the goal of which was to show successful models with the potential to be replicated and to contribute to market-oriented production of cattle and pigs in the region.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Georgian nation went through a process of rapid disinvestment and de-industrialization. It was forced to shut down industrial plants, sending scrap metal abroad, and workers into subsistence farming. Hunger has never become an issue thanks to the country’s moderate climate and good soil conditions, yet inequality and associated political pressures rapidly reached catastrophic dimensions, unleashing cycles of violence, undermining the political order, and inhibiting prospects of economic growth.

Currently, farming in Georgia is a “by default activity” – the vast majority of Georgian “farmers” are not really farmers in a professional sense but rather people who try to survive by growing agricultural products. When traveling through Georgia’s countryside, one sees immediately that it is mainly the older generation which has to resort to this default activity.