A new walnut garden has been planted on an area of 9 hectares in the Imereti region as part of the Plant the Future state program, the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture reports.
The implementation of the “Plant the Future” program began in March 2015 and is part of the state program “Preferential Agrocredit” and involves state funding for the purchase of seedlings by farmers to renovate and lay out orchards.
Farmer Koba Chulukhadze received co-financing from the Rural Development Agency in the amount of 48,600 lari ($18,000) to plant a garden in the village of Pirveli Sviri in the Zestafon municipality, according to the agency.
The new walnut garden in Zestaponi was visited by the head of the Ministry of Agriculture Otar Shamugiya, together with the governor of Imereti Zviad Shalamberidze and majoritarian deputy Bezhan Tsakadze.
According to the minister, the most popular of all state projects to promote agricultural production is “Plant the Future.”
“New orchards have already been planted on an area of more than 17.6 thousand hectares throughout the country, and these areas will increase even more. Consequently, the production of competitive local products is also increasing, which allows more high-quality Georgian products to appear on our market, increase secondary production” – said Shamugiya.
In addition, according to him, the successful implementation of the program helps to export even more Georgian products in a diversified market.
In total, perennial gardens have been laid out in the Imereti region on an area of more than 1.2 thousand hectares. State co-financing exceeds 15 million lari (5.6 million dollars), of which 207 hectares are planted with nuts, and co-financing is 863.8 thousand lari (almost 320 thousand dollars).
The main goal of the “Plant the Future” program is to effectively use the agricultural lands of Georgia by planting perennial crops.
Up to a billion lari will be allocated for the development of high-mountainous regions of Georgia in three years >>
Within the framework of this program, new perennial gardens have been planted across Georgia on a plot of about 17.6 thousand hectares of land, and the amount of state funding exceeds 133 million lari (49.3 million dollars). As for walnut crops, gardens throughout the country are divided into 8.5 hectares. Co-financing is 39.2 million lari ($14.5 million).
