Georgia plans to open 20 new agricultural businesses

The Government is pledging to open 20 new businesses in the agricultural sector as a way to continue supporting the development of the industry.

While presenting a report of the past three years’ activities today, Agriculture Minister Otar Danelia said 20 new enterprises would open in addition to the 139 recently finances business.

He said between 2013 and 2015 the Agriculture Ministry spent $120 million USD (288 million GEL) financing 139 enterprises. A total of 2,992 people were employed in the new businesses.

Of the many projects the Agriculture Ministry had recently implemented, Danelia stressed the project to provide a clean, reliable water supply to about 100,000 hectares of land was "one of the most important”.

Danelia also commented on next year’s budget and said Parliament had not made any remarks about the Agriculture Ministry’s proposed areas for funding in 2016.

Another aspect of the report touched on the quality of Georgian wine and the changes undertaken to ensure the Georgian drink met top standards.

He said "bad wine” was no longer available in the Georgian market as local wine was now "systematically controlled”.

As for alcohol consumption, Danelia said that in Georgia, seven times more vodka was consumed than wine. While alcohol consumption was a personal choice, Danelia said the Ministry would do more to better promote Georgian-made wine to the local community, as this would better support the industry. (Agenda.ge)