Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, held a presentation about a  new Rural and Agricultural Development Project in Georgia. Funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC), this project will bring several positive changes including improved rural policies, strengthened value chains, sustainable management of natural resources and environmentally friendly agricultural practices.

The four-year project will enhance the capacities of Farmers’ Information and Consultation Centres and provide farmers in selected municipalities with agricultural grants. The pilot grant programme will be implemented in Oni, Tsageri, Gori and Khashuri municipalities. The project’s activities are expected to help Georgia’s agricultural producers become more competitive while at the same time reduce agriculture’s contribution to climate change. As a result, the project supports the implementation of the Strategy for Agricultural Development in Georgia 2015-2020 and the Strategy for Rural Development 2017-2022 through policy support and small-scale investment measures.

The event was opened with welcome addresses by Giorgi Khanishvili, the First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Mamuka Meskhi, Assistant FAO representative in Georgia and Gerhard Schaumberger, Head of Office for the South Caucasus for the Austrian Development Agency. The opening was followed by a working meeting where the details of the project’s implementation discussed.