2019-05-23
"Fight against poverty in Georgia goes through the development of small and medium enterprises (SME) and increased productivity in agriculture" stated Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia when addressing young farmers at a meeting today.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, it is important to consider ideas of young farmers on this topic to better visualise what is done by the authorities well and what are the faults in the area concerned.
"I am strongly convinced that only through cooperation with the private sector it is possible for the Government of Georgia to plan effective reforms. Only through administrative methods are the desirable results to be achieved. Georgia had a similar experience and I wish to leave it in the past. Only through cooperation with the private sector, ideas and criticism received from you it will be made possible to carry out various reforms towards this end, which will be best fitting with your interests" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
According to the Head of Government of Georgia, it is important in principle that young entrepreneurs and farmers get facilitated in Georgia.
"When I was appointed as a Prime Minister of Georgia, many of you might recall the five principles that served as a basis of our Government Program. Youth economy had a leading role in them. Any sector with no youth energy, vision or brave steps, acceptance of the current status quo, ambitious vision will not lead to the development of such sector, neither state will be successful in the 21st century" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Head of Government of Georgia elaborated on the current problems faced in the agriculture sector and noted that proper analysis is not carried out due to the biased criticism of the agriculture and problems or prospects are not identified within the sector.
According to the Prime Minister of Georgia, when majority of population engaged in agriculture consume all their crop, it negatively affects the sector. Agriculture will only have prospects of development and success, when a farmer sells crop at a market and generates income for the household.
"This sector has the highest responsibility compared to any other sector of the economy for a very simple reason. It employs over 40 percent of the population, though it contributes only 9 percent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP). It also leads to one of our most painful challenges - poverty. However, it is not a valid argument that agriculture in Georgia has no prospects. Philosophy of agriculture, which we inherited has no future in Georgia, when majority of our population engaged in agriculture consume what they produce in the backyard farms. Naturally, such agriculture has not future, however philosophy implying commercialization of agriculture - does. Farmers need to harvest, sell, generate income and use proceeds to their suiting. Now, this is a formula of success" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Head of Government of Georgia also spoke about infrastructure of the agriculture sector and noted that irrigation systems were applied only in small land parcels and significant investments were made in them.
"You all know that significant investments were made towards this end. Our goal is to increase the size of such land parcels to 200 000 hectares and I pledge that we will do it by all means. You also know that it is related with huge investments, but this is a pre-requisite for success of the sector" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Head of Government of Georgia focused on the trade deficit in the agriculture sector and noted that authorities managed to reduce the indicator from 900 million to 300 million.
"Trade deficit, which is one of the most painful challenges in our economy, used to be 900 million, i.e. we were importing agriculture produce by 900 million more than exporting. It is a huge deficit. We managed to reduce it to 300 million. If not a tremendous harm caused by the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), we could have nulled the deficit this year" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
In the opinion of the Head of Government of Georgia, agriculture will soon be one of the successful sectors and deploy advanced technologies in production and processing.
"People, who criticize the sector either have no accurate information or are preoccupied with a populistic rhetoric. I am sure it is the sector, which will make its due contribution to the development of the national economy, become successful in the 21st century and deploy advanced technologies. Naturally, it has a component of education incorporated within itself. It is our national idea, as it is the only guarantee that every sector will become successful in the country. You are well aware how many thousand professionals are missing in agriculture. Had we the required knowledge, experience, access to technologies, we would have had a much advanced sector" added the Prime Minister of Georgia.
In the opinion of the Head of Government of Georgia, success in the agriculture sector of the country goes through the production of organic, bio products and our country should gain its due place on the global market.
"We have size restrictions and we all know that we will not be producing high volumes of diverse products as much larger countries do. However, we have a unique nature and Georgia has all the preconditions to have a successful green economy. We should translate this into a production of organic, bio production. Demand is rising on the organic food and beverages and it is our niche indeed. We should sell value added agriculture produce. Of course, it requires investments from the state. It requires joint investments in education, technologies. It requires exposure of farmers to international sales markets to be ensured by the state. Our market is too small for the development of not only this sector, but national economy as a whole with greater speed and that is why our strategic goal is to get integrated with global economy in the most efficient and effective manner. European marker is the key priority in this regard indeed" noted the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Head of Government of Georgia spoke about the significance of free trade with EU and China, thereby noting that Georgia is the only country in the region, which has Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with these largest economies in the world.
Prime Minister of Georgia focused on the co-financing of the agriculture sector from the State Budget and noted that Government will continue supporting the sector, which has a growth and development potential.
"When we hear a question on whether co-financing of the sector from the State Budget and other targeted programs are justified, as it is perceived to be a direct or indirect subsidy. I have a very simple answer for this: last year we managed to export agriculture produce in excess of 1 BLN USD; our entrepreneurs in Kakheti generated the highest ever revenues in Kakheti. It was a historic maximum in the history of independent Georgia. Viticulture in recent years has been supported intensely and outcome has been immediate. You cannot find a successful country in the world that does not have support programs in agriculture. Of course, I am not among those, who would always support subsidies. On the contrary, I think that in most cases it may be counter-effective, however when we talk about the development of the sector as it has a potential to grow and create more jobs and wealth for the country - and what is most important - make a decisive contribution to the fight against poverty. In this case, my answer is very clear: we continue delivering support programs in the sector of agriculture and Minister of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia has been instructed to seek additional funding from the State Budget. We will be considering a more wide-scale support in 2020" concluded the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Prime Minister's Press Office