FAO in Georgia gathered national statisticians of the state, analysts and private agencies of Georgia to introduce the Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Tool (FPMA), an electronic system that provides an advanced technical solution for dissemination and analysis of price information.

For more than 15 Georgian statisticians, Natalia Merkusheva, FAO’s Economist from Rome provided the hands-on training in using the FPMA tool which provides an easy way to access the large amounts of data present in the databases. It allows users to quickly browse single price series, create comparisons among markets, download charts, data and basic statistics such as averages, standard deviations and percentage changes.

FPMA tool and price databases have become a valuable public good for providing the international community and decision-makers with timely and reliable information. Earlier this year, FAO has already implemented the tool in Georgia to assist the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia to evaluate and analyse the prices on the agricultural products across the country. The establishment of the aforementioned system was supported by the European Union under the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD). Along with the policy makers, up-to-date statistics on local food prices will help rural families and farmers’ associations ensure that their production is in line with market trends. Small farms, often with few resources and little growth potential, will gain access to valuable information that could lead to new economic opportunities.