The messenger logo

Sheep breeding issues

By Messenger Staff
Wednesday, June 9
All of a sudden sheep breeding has become a very profitable branch of agriculture in Georgia. In 2009 several thousand sheep from Georgia were exported to Arab countries and it appears that Iran will also import Georgian sheep in 2010. Therefore extra steps are to be taken to rationalise the sheep breeding industry in order to make it sustainable.

In 2008 there were more than 600,000 sheep in Georgia. In 2009 this figure decreased to 400,000, and export will be pretty high in 2010 too. The price of sheep has increased from 65 to 120 GEL, and some analysts suggest that the number Georgian sheep will come to 300,000 by the end of the year.

Analyst Paata Koghuashvili thinks that if the business is properly organised Georgia can easily breed 1 million sheep as it has enough resources to do so. Therefore the Ministry of Agriculture should help ensure the sustainability of this very profitable branch of agriculture.