Photo: FAO/Ekaterine Kolesnikova

The Ambassador of the Czech Republic Petr Kubernát visited the local farming communities living near the administrative borderline (ABL) of South Ossetia / Georgia, in Shida Kartli. These communities have been benefitting from the Czech Development Cooperation-supported FAO project in the region. Through training programs and improved access to equipment, dairy farmers, beekeepers, and cereal producers have been improving their production and hence strengthening their resilience, in an area that has been very much affected by the conflict.

The aim of Ambassador Kubernát’s visit was to meet the local farmers living near the administrative borderline of South Ossetia / Georgia, participate in the demonstration of no till planting of cereals and take part in a FAO veterinary training for dairy farmers.

Through the support of the Czech Development Cooperation, 19 Farmer Field Schools have been established in the region and, in this format, FAO experts have shared knowledge with more than 200 farmers. Some of the key training topics include: good agricultural practices, climate-smart agriculture, food safety, and hygiene in dairy production.

Ambassador Kubernát also visited Gocha Danielashvili’s cereal field. He, like 83 other cereal farmers living in ABL villages, has been provided by FAO with access to modern aggregates for seeding, utilizing the no-till farming methodology. This environmentally sustainable Conservation Agriculture concept decreases production costs and makes cereal fields more resilient toward environmental risk factors.

As a result, local farming communities are getting equipped with the practical and theoretical knowledge, which can support them in advancing dairy and crop production, as well as beekeeping. Even more importantly, these interventions increase the resilience of these communities, which have been seriously affected by the conflict.

 “We stand proudly with the citizens of Georgia and continue supporting the country in improving the resilience of rural communities living near the administrative borderline in Shida Kartli. In partnership with FAO, we have reached hundreds of dairy and cereal farmers, as well as beekeepers, many of whom are women. With the training modules delivered for the local communities along with the improved access to equipment, farmers living near the administrative borderline are empowered to produce more, safer food products, which is an important element in ensuring that they improve and sustain their economic resilience,” states The Ambassador of the Czech Republic Petr Kubernát.

With a focus on smallholder women farmers, the main objective of the Czech Development Cooperation-supported project is to work with the conflict-affected rural communities living near the ABL of the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia and to showcase to them some of the impactful methods for increasing the farmers’ resilience.