EU, MEPA and FAO award over GEL2 million in agricultural grants
Monday, July 13
The European Union (EU), the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have awarded 35 matching grants with a total amount of more than GEL 2 million, covering 40 to 75 percent of farmers’ initial investments in agricultural initiatives.
The grants are part of the second cycle of applications under the ENPARD III programme, which supports food production in Georgia amid the Covid-19 crisis. Awards included: investments in support to the recovery of the COVID19 pandemic will allow farmers to install drip irrigation for vegetable production; 24 medium investments, with a grant of a maximum of $50,000 mainly dedicated to mechanization and equipment for cattle farming; four large-scale initiatives with grants up to $150,000 to equip a dairy factory, a silage production company, a new storage for potatoes, as well as a veterinary production line for phage treatment.
These investments are expected to have a catalytic effect as they target bottlenecks in concrete value chains that will allow small and medium farmers to benefit too.
Earlier this year, under the first cycle, agricultural grants with a total value exceeding GEL2.2 million had already been approved. The next cycles of applications start in the middle of July. In total, over GEL18 million in grants will be provided over the next three years.
FAO Programme Coordinator, Javier Sanz Alvarez encouraged farmers, cooperatives and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the next matching grant application cycle in July.
“We see this project as a great opportunity for producers to improve their businesses. The FAO/ENPARD matching grant component allows for small, medium and large producers to apply and targeted investments are proving to be very effective to increase the dynamism of the full value chain,” Alvarez said.
The EU is supporting agriculture and rural development in Georgia through its ENPARD Programme. Active since 2013 with a total budget of Euro179.5 million, the main goal of ENPARD is to reduce rural poverty in Georgia. The first phase of ENPARD in Georgia focused on developing the potential of agriculture. The second and third phases of ENPARD focus on creating economic opportunities for rural populations that go beyond agricultural activities.
The European Union has been supporting the development of agriculture in Georgia for a long time now and throughout the years, the relations between the states was able to spawn a number of very successful projects that have proved to be very important for future development of the relations between Europe and Georgia.
(Source: The European Union)
