According to Steve Johnson (a popular American science writer and media theorist, the author of Where Good Ideas Come From), coffee and coffeehouses were a significant contributor to Europe’s scientific and industrial revolution. The first coffeehouses opened in London in 1650 and quickly mushroomed all over Europe. The coffeehouse had two major positive effects.

Project aims to study the best international practices of food security data collection mechanisms and map and analyze the existing mechanisms in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in terms of food security data collection. ISET-PI team is expected to compare national data collection mechanisms with international practices, identify key gaps and challenges in measuring FS and provide specific recommendations for FS data collection in three countries.

Food prices in the largest supermarkets of Georgia have been on decline over the last couple of months. Prices started adjusting downwards in July 2015 and the trend persisted in September. According to ISET Policy Institute’s Retail Food Price Index (Retail FPI) in September 2015, prices were 1% lower compared to August 2015.

On August 20, 2015, a strong hailstorm hit Georgia, devastating crops and infrastructure in eastern Kakheti. In Kvareli alone, the hailstorm destroyed about 1,300ha of Saperavi and 1,000ha of Rkatsiteli grapes, affecting more than 500 families. This was only one in a string of natural disasters striking Georgian farmers in recent years.

According to the population projections of the United Nations (constant fertility scenario), by the end of this century, the Georgian people will count only 2.8 million. In 2013, Georgia has been among only 19 countries in the world with a population that decreased year on year. An aggravating factor is the sex ratio of babies, which in Georgia is heavily skewed towards males. While globally about 107 boys are born per 100 girls, in Georgia 111 boys are born per 100 girls, the fourth-highest ratio in the world.