The Growing Strawberry Business of Georgia

Описание: This strawberry growing business in the village of Balachauri has been founded by David Narimanishvili, together with his six partners. They received the initial funding from the (European Neighbourhood programme for Agriculture and Rural Development).

The cooperative had its first harvest in February and all of it sold in Tbilisi. The price was 10-12 GEL (approximately $4-5) for a kilogram. However, depending on the season, the prices can go up to 18-25 GEL ($8-10).

The members of the cooperative have already worked in agriculture when they united to start this enterprise.

“We took part in the ENPARD program in 2015. ENPARD’s partner organisation Oxfam has financed our business project. Our cooperative has received the grant of 63 000 GEL. We invested 23 000 GEL as our contribution. Besides, we had to spend about 20 000 GEL during this year. Before starting operating as a cooperative, each of us has been working as individual entrepreneurs. So we invested more and got less income. The scale of our business has changed significantly after our union“.

They are expecting the second harvest soon, but ripening process has become slower as the weather is getting colder which is posing a new challenge. The farmers tried using various heating systems but all of them are expensive and would be pushing the price up.

Business started with the EU financing but now they need a bit more help from the state in order to continue operating successfully.

“The weather is quite harsh. We have bought a heater but we faced problems of gas pressure and power capacity. On the other hand, energy resources are quite expensive, especially for entrepreneurs in Georgia. If the state subsidizes the energy resources, we will come up with more competitive products in the market”

This strawberry greenhouse is not the only project financed by ENPARD. The programme has been operating in Georgia since 2013 and the main purpose has been the development of agriculture through supporting and helping small private agricultural enterprises.

They also helped to develop the Agricultural Strategy and trained over 400 staff members of the Ministry of Agriculture. There are now 59 consultation and information centres established all over Georgia. Over 14 000 farmers are registered in agricultural cooperatives database. The total budget for ENPARD in Georgia for 2013-2019 is €102 million.

David is hopeful that with the support of the programme and the government, he will be able to open the second greenhouse one day.