The European Union and the French Development Agency (AFD) are starting a new project to finance agricultural cooperatives and small commercial farms in Georgia, announced the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia today.
The project ‘Financial, extensional and cooperative support for Georgian farmers’ (FinExCoop Georgia) is a four year project with a budget of four million euros.
“The new project will promote entrepreneurship, create new jobs and increase the export of new products”, said first deputy Minister of Agriculture, Giorgi Khaniashvili.
“Georgia has [access to an economic] market of 2 billion people to where it [exports] products without customs barriers. Thus, it is important to produce goods in the country which meet the requirements of the international market”, said Khaniashvili.
The project aims to support small and medium-sized farms to better use the opportunities of exporting products to new markets and especially to use the opportunities which Georgia has by the agreement of deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) between Georgia and European Union.
The project is financed by the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) and the French Development Agency (AFD).
The project will be implemented by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Mercy Corps, Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG) and Chambre d’Agriculture du Loiret.
