On November 20, the NGO Kakheti, with help from the World Food Programme and the Lithuanian Embassy, proudly unveiled their latest project: a fish farm in Pankisi Gorge.

“This project…started after we researched what sort of farm would be profitable for the locals. We decided to make a fish farm, because fish is very popular in this are,” said Kakheti NGO head Nato Dakishvili.

157 local workers, including Chechen refugees, helped build the farm, and eight of them swill stay on to man the project full-time. The workers were paid in flour, vegetable oil and sugar.

To start, there are just 100 fish swimming about in the 80 by 90 meter pond, but the school is meant to increase to around 4000 by February.

The first harvest should come as soon as next July, and organizers project annual revenue to be about GEL 27 000—not just self-sustaining, but profitable.

Dakishvili said some of the harvest would be given out to refugees and locals as food aid, while others will be sold to markets and regional restaurants.

Pankisi Gorge, home to many refugees of the Chechen conflicts across the border, suffers from endemic unemployment. Many locals at the opening ceremony said they were happy to see projects like this opening in their area.

Baduri Terterashvili worked on the construction of the fish farm, and said he was satisfied with his pay.

“I have been working for 46 days, and they’ve given me 101 kilograms of wheat flour, sugar and oil. I’m glad, because there aren’t any other jobs for me to support my family with,” he said.

Viktoras Dagilis, counselor of the Lithuanian Embassy in Georgia, said that this is his embassy’s first collaboration with the WFP.

“It’s not easy for us to choose in which country use our resources, because we are not talking about great sums. So we hope that our small resources will be helpful for them,” Dagilis said.

WFP country director Lola Castro said they are working hard to help the residents in the region, which include both poor Georgians and refugees living in hash poverty.

“Our goal is to increase food production in this area. In this particular case, we’re trying to increase animal production and expect benefits from it,” she said.

The WFP has other projects in the pipeline. Now, they are lending technical expertise to help local authorities get their own projects off the ground. New plans are on the way for Kvareli district, also in Kakheti.

“After working together with locals, we’ve found that businesses other than grape growing could be developed…it’s entirely possible to develop a nut business, among others,” said Zaza Gabadadze, a WFP food aid monitor.

WFP will be packing up and leaving Georgia next year—improving economic conditions mean their help is more needed elsewhere, program officials say.