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Georgia establishes its first avocado farm

Business Materials 13 May 2021 15:04 (UTC +04:00)
Georgia establishes its first avocado farm

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13

Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:

Georgian 'Geonuts' company has set up the first avocado farm on six hectares in Lanchkhuti municipality in Guria, Trend reports via the EastFruit portal.

Producers will harvest the first fruits as early as next year, but the farm will enter full production only in 4–5 years.

“The 'Geonuts' company purchased avocado seedlings from the Italian Vivai Zanzi nursery with the assistance of Green Solutions, the official representative of Zanzi in Georgia. Seedlings and avocado varieties were selected taking into account the climatic conditions of Georgia,” said the report.

Zviad Bobokashvili, Head of the Fruit Crops Research Department of the Research Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture noted that attempts to grow avocados in Georgia were already made in the 1940s-1950s, but they weren't successful, since the varieties were not frost-resistant.

“Today the climate of Georgia is much milder, so we can consider growing avocados, although an appropriate selection of varieties requires research and cultivation in small experimental plots. Commercial avocados can withstand a maximum of 5-6 degrees below zero, but there are also varieties that can withstand 10-11 degrees below zero, such as Mexican avocados. Therefore, it is possible that such varieties could be grown in Georgia,” the expert noted.

Bobokashvili believes that avocado cultivation could become important in Geogia, if the country continues to research and experiment with different varieties in order to adapt them to local conditions.

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