Plant the Future: New walnut orchards grown in Racha, Georgia

A walnut orchard will be planted over several hectares of land in Georgia’ north-western Racha region using state funds from a governmental project aimed at stimulating regional agriculture.

Slightly under 29,400 GEL (about $12,850/ˆ11,300*) has been allocated to the Velishiori agriculture cooperative within the Plant the Future project to plant walnut trees and establish an irrigation system in Khotevi village.

The Agricultural Projects Management Agency (APMA) said the Plant the Future program will provide 70 percent co-participation in buying plants and 50 percent co-financing for establishing irrigation systems. At the same time the state program will finance 50 percent of the cost of creating new seedling farms.

APMA said the Plant the Future campaign, which started in 2015, would help farmers produce high quality products that would compete with imported products in the local market. At the same time this should increase the export potential of Georgia’s agricultural products.

The goals of the Plant the Future project was:
• To create 30-40 high-quality nursery gardens that meet modern standards, with an estimated future capacity to grow about three million various plant saplings per year;
• To stimulate the creation of perennial gardens and arrangement of perennial plant gardens and plantations;
• To arrange new gardens and plantations of perennial plants on an area spanning 1,000-1,200 hectares; and
• To provide technical assistance to farmers who want to establish gardens and nurseries.

*Currencies are equivalent with the latest National Bank of Georgia exchange rate. (Agenda.ge)