Raising the Bar
How modern agricultural technologies grow new markets for Georgia
On a road outside of Tbilisi, I travel with a team from USAID’s Mission in Georgia. We are heading to the Gori municipality in the Shida Kartli region, about an hour and a half from the country’s capital. On the way, I look out the vehicle’s window, seeing a beautiful landscape filled with luscious green rolling hills, topped by small houses in small villages.
“That is one of the Russian-occupied territories,” says a colleague.
As we continue to travel, I am intrigued by how close I am to a painful part of Georgia’s past — the 2008 Russian invasion which resulted in 20% of Georgia’s territory being occupied by Russia, a status that remains to this day. As we drive, I can see the signs marking the boundary of the occupied territory of South Ossetia, and the Georgian checkpoints on roads heading north.
Our destination is Agriculture Cooperative (AC) Kitsnisi, one of the few nurseries in the country to produce high quality, certified fruit tree saplings.
With support from USAID and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Georgia, AC Kitsnisi was able to connect with a leading Dutch supplier of high quality planting material and secure a purchasing agreement for certified fruit planting materials unavailable in the Georgian market.
On the visit, we learned how the planting materials were grafted and grown in AC Kitsnisi’s screenhouse, as well as the measures employed to maintain the integrity of the imported materials.
USAID, together with the National Food Agency and Scientific Research Center of Agriculture, is supporting AC Kitsnisi on its path to meet higher international standards. Compliance with these higher level standards will enable Georgian producers to sell to new markets in the European Union and beyond. That day, we were seeing the progress.
Upon reaching the nursery, we meet Akaki Iosebashvili, who owns AC Kitsnisi, where he shows us what is being grown. As I approach a series of covered greenhouses, I peek inside to see many rows of tiny saplings, apples, pears, and quince, stretching along the floor from end to end. Those tiny saplings were the beginning stages of a larger effort intended to strengthen Georgia’s agriculture sector by making it more diverse and able to enter new markets.
“Our success is a result of support provided by the U.S. and Georgian governments,” says Akaki. “The assistance of the USAID Agriculture Program helped us to establish a more modern type of nursery by implementing modern approaches to produce healthy seedlings, which is the first step to a high-quality crop and improved yields.”
Raising the Bar
Starting in 2024, certification will become mandatory for Georgian seedling producers, as part of Georgia’s Association Agreement with the EU. Currently, only a small fraction of nurseries have information about or access to high quality planting materials for mother orchards, which are needed to meet certification standards.
In response to increasing demand from the private sector for quality planting material, USAID and the Netherlands worked to bring modern technology to Georgian seedling nurseries, enabling them to meet higher certification standards needed to reach new markets. AC Kitsnisi, where we visited, is one of nine nurseries in Georgia using this new technology.
“Access to high quality planting materials is critical for diversifying Georgia’s agriculture sector and enhancing its competitiveness in the global market,” says Siobhan Pangerl, who leads the USAID Agriculture Program in Georgia. “In three years’ time, AC Kitsnisi will be able to produce 100,000 high-quality, certified plants each year, increasing sales by 800,000 GEL ($266,223) — which will also result in creating new jobs and benefiting the local economy.”
The planting materials arrived from the Netherlands in February 2022 and have been processed and placed in AC Kitsnisi’s screenhouse. Their arrival, at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was timely, as they will be part of the effort to reduce Georgia’s economic reliance on Russian markets.
USAID’s Agriculture Program co-invests with government ministries and private sector partners to increase production capacity, efficiency, and compliance with international quality standards. USAID targets high-potential Georgian agricultural enterprises with proven track records of revenue generation and high-value job creation. Methods of support include adding value through modern production, processing, storage, and distribution techniques, while building diverse regional and international market linkages.
These are all important endeavors that will help drive investment in Georgia’s agricultural sector. In addition, USAID/Georgia helps producers to meet EU and U.S. quality standards for exports, and build trade relationships with higher-value markets. These investments promote Georgia’s economic sovereignty and security.
Historically, 80% of Georgian agricultural production has gone to Russian markets, giving Russia a lever to upend the Georgian economy.
Diversifying Georgia’s production with new tree varieties, and improving agribusinesses’ access to diverse markets, lessens Russia’s influence on the Georgian economy, and helps mitigate the destabilizing effects of sanctions stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Reaching New Markets
By teaming up with the Netherlands, USAID hopes to catalyze Georgia’s economic development and open the door to new markets, from exporting apples and citrus to the EU, to selling berries to the Gulf states. This work is just one example of the importance of strategic partnerships to modernize Georgia’s agricultural sector and facilitate linkages with Western markets.
“In order to meet its international commitments, and take advantage of new, more lucrative markets, Georgia’s agricultural sector needs to modernize and adopt new technologies,” says Konstantine Kobakhidze, a USAID/Georgia agriculture specialist. “Our support to the Georgian agricultural sector goes beyond helping individual entrepreneurs. The aim is to ensure international quality, highly productive, and virus free planting materials, locally produced here in Georgia — which will in turn introduce them to new markets and make them a stronger global competitor.”
AC Kitsnisi is a prime example. These linkages are critical to improving the productivity of Georgian agribusinesses, as well as eventually meeting the higher certification requirements under Georgia’s Association Agreement with the EU. USAID is continuing this partnership — and planning to establish new ones — to support Georgia on its path to market diversification and reduced reliance on Russia.
About the Author
Katherine Morgan is a Senior Communications Specialist at USAID.
About USAID’s work in Georgia
USAID is an avid supporter of Georgia’s development, officially beginning operations in the country in 1992, and has since then provided close to $2 billion in assistance. Today, the Agency dedicates approximately $75 million annually to projects that focus on building resilience to malign external influence, fostering citizen-responsive governance, and promoting inclusive economic growth that results in jobs. The economic growth portfolio prioritizes, diversifying markets, promoting Euro-Atlantic integration, enhancing energy security, and mitigating climate change.
