Baku, Azerbaijan, October 4
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
The European Union and the French Development Agency (AFD) initiated a new project to finance agricultural cooperatives and small commercial farms in Georgia, Trend reports referring to the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia.
The project entitled "Financial, extensional and cooperative support for Georgian farmers" (FinExCoop Georgia) is a four year project with a budget of four million euros.
It aims to support small and medium-sized farms to better use the opportunities of exporting products to new markets and especially those that are provided by the agreement of deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) between Georgia and European Union.
"The new project will promote entrepreneurship, create new jobs and increase the export of new products", said First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Giorgi Khaniashvili.
According to him, Georgia has access to the huge EU economic market where it exports products without customs barriers. Thus, it is important to produce goods in the country which meet the requirements of the international market.
“Today we presented a new project, which will make an important contribution to the process of EU support for the development of agriculture in Georgia. It willl help contribute to small and medium-sized farms in order to strengthen and more effectively address the strategic tasks of the sector to make better use of new markets,” said a representative of the program for the safety of agriculture, fisheries and food, implemented by the EU Delegation in Georgia.
The project is financed by the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) and the French Development Agency.
The project will be implemented by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Mercy Corps organization, Association Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG) and Chambre d’Agriculture du Loiret.