The concept of food security (FS) is holistic and brings together the notions of the availability of sufficient amounts of food, access to food, food utilization (including nutrition aspects) and stability in the food supply.

Although the mining sector of Georgia only accounts for a small share of GDP, around one quarter of Georgia’s total exports are related to mining activities. Increased use of Georgia’s natural resources thus has the potential to benefit the economic development of the country as well as to contribute to public finances.

Retail food prices, as measured by ISET-PI’s FPI, increased by 0.4% in early December compared to mid-November. Prices are also up 2.2% year-on-year (y-o-y, that is compared to the December 2014). The largest increases were registered for eggplants (up 76%), cucumbers (52.1%) and greens (16.2%).

The UNDP conference on agricultural extension, which took place on December 7-9th, featured a 45-minutes presentation of the Social Policy Research Center (SPRC) of ISET-PI. Professor Florian Biermann, head of the center, discussed some preliminary findings of the project “Farmer Knowledge Needs in Georgia”.

Aiming to contextualize the challenges and opportunities faced by Georgian trout farmers, the ISET Policy Institute, in cooperation with CARE international and the Georgian Farmers Association (GFA) organized a trout sector stakeholders’ forum in Kutaisi on December 4th, 2015.