On October 7th, the head of the Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC), Pati Mamardashvili, and researchers Lasha Lanchava and Irakli Kochlamazashvili attended a parliamentary discussion regarding the 2016 budget of the Ministry of Agriculture. This meeting was organized by the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) in the framework of the project "Strengthening the System of Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia".

In addition to other research centers and non-governmental organizations, APRC researchers talked about the different sectors and services of agriculture and respective budget allocations. In particular, specific suggestions were made towards incorporating up-to-date research findings from development economics for designing informed insurance and cooperation development policies.

Emphasis was made on the role of government in developing a sustainable long-term agricultural insurance policy and regulatory framework. The socio-economic impact of tea sector development was once again highlighted in the discussions and the ministry was advised to allocate more funds towards export-oriented branding and small-scale farmer education. These and other relevant comments with regards to the efficient allocation of the budget resources will be submitted by APRC to the agrarian committee of the parliament next week.