Back in 2013, the Government of Georgia (GoG) approved a new law entitled “On Agricultural Cooperatives.” The primary goal of this legislation was to support agriculture and rural development in the country by strengthening agricultural cooperatives. Since then, agricultural cooperatives have been springing up like mushrooms; 13,000 farmers have already been registered in 1,500 cooperatives. In order to strengthen their capacity, donors led by the European Union have been providing financial assistance as well as trainings and advisory services to cooperatives and their members.

On Tuesday, April 11, ISET hosted Warwick University Professor Omer Moav. Professor Moav delivered a profoundly interesting lecture to the ISET community about the work that he and his colleagues have worked on together, specifically a revolutionary hypothesis about the emergence of social and political hierarchies in early agrarian societies.

Georgia’s agri-food export is concentrated in few products and few undemanding markets, making it highly vulnerable to shocks on a small number of commodity and geographical markets. At the same time, the diversity of climatic conditions and ample water resources create significant growth and diversification potential for Georgian agriculture

By the end of March, food prices increased by 4.4% y/y (that is, compared to March 2016) and by 1.6% m/m (that is, compared to February 2017). On a biweekly basis, the biggest price increases happened for coriander (40.3%), cucumber (30.0%), and eggplant (14.9%). Carrots, onions, and tomatoes, on the contrary, became cheaper and cost 22.1%, 24.4%, and 15.0% less, respectively.

The project “Meet the Meat Demand” is a cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture MOA of Georgia and the French Livestock Institute, financed by the French Ministry of Economy through the FASEP program. The aim of the study is to assess the possibilities for development of beef production in Georgia.