Japanese sponsored farming project launched

On February 16th the opening Ceremony was held in Marneuli district concerning the Project for Improvement of Farmers’ Cooperative in Kushchi Village of Marneuli District, which has been implemented within the framework of “Grassroots and Human Security Grant Assistance Programme” of the Government of Japan. The Ceremony was attended by H.E. Mr. Masayoshi Kamohara, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Georgia, representatives of local authority and members of related organizations.

The Grant Contract of the above-mentioned project was concluded on November 26th 2009 between the Embassy of Japan and international NGO Heifer International. The aim of the project is to improve the Farmers’ Cooperative in Marneuli District by providing agricultural machinery as well as constructing the storehouse of above mentioned machinery. It is expected that about 1,000 households would directly benefit from the said project. The budget of this project is 72,845 USD.

The “Grant Assistance for Grassroots and Human Security Projects” (GGP) provides assistance to relatively small projects implemented by municipalities, medical institutions, as well as NGOs and aims at improving the living standards of Georgian people. It applies to projects in the field of public health, education, social protection, environment and poverty reduction. Since 1998, one hundred and three GGP projects have been implemented in Georgia totaling 8,370,097 USD. The size of Japan’s Official Development Assistance to Georgia has reached over 362 million USD, covering a wide spectrum of areas such as improvement of economic infrastructure, agricultural and social sectors, culture and human resource development.