Little investment in agriculture

The Georgian president recently mentioned agriculture as one of the country’s priorities, however nothing much has been done to improve the situation and it remains in serious need. President Saakashvili stated that Georgian agriculture needs an initial Euro 100 million and the Hungarian company Atom Invest has committed to invest this amount in the sector. It is significant that the highest level of investments in Georgia – more than USD 2 billion was in 2007, but out of this sum Georgian agriculture received 15.5 million. In 2008 when Georgia received USD 1.6 billion in investment, the country’s agricultural sector received 7.8 million. The largest amount invested in the agricultural sector was in 2009 and it was only USD 22 million, and in the first 6 months of 2010 agriculture received at total of USD 4.8 million.