ISET's prominence in the agricultural development sector has been displayed once again with the institute's participation in a meeting led by the Georgian Alliance on Agriculture and Rural Development (GAARD) on October 26 at Tbilisi's Courtyard Marriott hotel. Led by Oxfam, GAARD is one of four ENPARD implementing consortia.

Nino Kvirkvelia and her husband Irakli Todua are not exactly your typical Georgian smallholders. Both spouses are well-educated (both hold economics and business degrees from reputable Georgian institutions). More importantly in the context of Georgian agriculture, the couple owns 28(!) hectares of arable land in Georgia’s horticultural heaven, Samegrelo, best known for its hazelnuts.

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.

In the second week of October, food prices kept going down: ISET’s Retail Food Price index lost 0.8% m/m (compared to the last week of September) and 15% y/y (compared to October 2015). The largest bi-weekly price changes were recorded for seasonal food products such as fresh fruit and vegetables. Prices moved down the most for coriander (-23%), onion (-8%), and cabbage (-6%).

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.