BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 23
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
In terms of volumes, now vegetable exports are much lower than the export of fruits, said George Khanishvili, First Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, Trend reports via Georgian media.
"I think one of the main factors is that Georgia’s production volume of many vegetables is not large enough to constitute export potential," he noted, he said.
According to Khanishvili, this year there were cases when farmers had problems with the sale of certain types of vegetables due to saturation in the domestic market, but the volumes of their production still did not allow making export consignments.
"The state supports the production of vegetable crops. Maybe not as active as growing perennial crops, but nevertheless. For example, in the context of a pandemic, a project was launched that enables a producer of annual crops to receive an interest-free bank loan for 6 months in the amount of up to 100,000 lari ($30,300)," he said.
According to him, there are projects under which the state supports the construction of greenhouses, the purchase of tractors and other agricultural equipment, and much more.
"Prices are formed on the world market, and the situation is unique to each culture. For example, export prices for hazelnuts and blueberries this season are relatively higher, but for apples, they are lower, and so forth," Khanishvili added.
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