Recently, the ISET Economist Blog wrote about the cooperative “Shamatia.” Their strawberry seedlings started to fade soon after planting. The cooperative consulted with different experts in the country to find the reason, and the solution for the problem, without success. Only after sending sample seedlings abroad was the cause of the problem revealed. In the meantime, however, the cooperative experienced losses of 15,000 GEL.

On November 8-9, the ENPARD team at ISET-PI participated in the 'Interagency Conference about Three Years of Implementation of ENPARD – Cooperative Development Component'. The conference was organized by one of the ENPARD implementer consortiums led by People in Need, a non-governmental organization, at Akaki Tsereteli State University in Kutaisi.

On October 28 and 29, CARE International in the Caucasus carried out its Direct Beneficiary Survey of ENPARD-funded cooperatives in the regions of Guria, Samegrelo, and Racha-Lechkhumi & Kvemo Svaneti.

The Republic of Georgia was among the fastest Former Soviet Union countries to implement large-scale land reform and land redistribution plans, starting in 1992. Land redistribution resulted in the formation of hundreds of thousands of small family farms, replacing large-scale collectives and production cooperatives (Sovkhozez and Kolkhozes). The main purpose of this land individualization process was, arguably, to help a large part of the population survive extremely hard times.

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.