Big harvest of citrus fruit

The citrus harvest has begun. The Ministry of Agriculture is making the very optimistic prognosis that this year the harvest will be twice as big as last year and could reach 118,000 tonnes, but although this was predicted some time ago there are still problems in storing this huge harvest.

After Russia was excluded as a citrus exporting destination the biggest market has been Ukraine. However due to the financial crisis problems have arisen in exporting large amounts of citrus fruit to Ukraine. It is planned to sell Ukraine at least 30,000 tonnes of tangerines, maybe up to 50,000, and Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan will also receive some.

The lower quality fruit will be processed locally by two factories in the Adjara region. It is hoped that the whole citrus crop will be successfully sold and managed and Georgian farmers happy with the result.