News

Georgian Farmers’ Congress

150 farmers throughout Georgia will have an opportunity to meet with the government representatives at the Congress and discuss challenges in agriculture

The second Farmers’ Congress of Georgia will be held on 2nd of June 2016 at 12 pm at the Tbilisi exposition center – “Expo Georgia” (registration starts from 11am). The farmer delegates from 9 regions of Georgia will meet with the official decision-makers in the field of agriculture to discuss the challenges of agro sector in Georgia.
The Congress will be attended by the Attaché on Agriculture of the European Union Delegation to Georgia Ms. Christina Casella, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Georgia Mr. Davit Galegashvili, Head of the Agricultural Cooperatives Development Agency Mr. Giorgi Misheladze and Deputy Head of the National Food Agency Mr. Zurab Lipartia. The representatives of the Parliament of Georgia, governmental and non-governmental sectors, international organizations and professional associations will be among the guests of the Congress.
Georgian Farmers’ Congress represents the unique platform, which fosters approximation of decision-making structures with farmers and ensures dialogue between stakeholders. Some of the issues discussed at the Congress: the influence of the food safety reforms on smallholder farmers, challenges and perspectives of smallholders’ access to markets, the available investments, loans and subsidy mechanisms for smallholder farmers and cooperatives.
During the Congress, the Livestream will be organized from the studios of Telavi TV “Tanamgzavri” and Akhaltsikhe TV “Metskhre Arkhi”; local farmers will from these locations will have a chance to pose additional questions to the invited guests of the Congress.
The Farmers’ Congress was preceded by the regional meetings, which took place in April 2016 in 9 regions of Georgia. The meetings with farmers were organized by the Biological Farming Association “Elkana” after which the 150 delegates were selected in total to participate in the culminating event – the Farmers’ Congress. These regional meetings were the opportunity for the farmers to debate discuss and reflect upon the problems and challenges in agro sector which they plan to bring up during the Congress.
The Farmers’ Congress is being held in the framework of the European Union funded project “Improving National Food Security Strategy and Support of Smallholder Farmers”. The project is implemented by the Oxfam Georgia in a partnership with the Biological farming Association “Elkana”. The aim of the project is to support government of Georgia in the process of drafting and implementation of food security strategy. Food security entails government’s obligation to plan and implement the policy, which will guarantee a right of each citizen’s access to sufficient and quality food in a long-term.
One of the mechanisms for combating the challenges of food security is development of smallholder farmers and support of their access to local markets, which in itself will increase local diversified production.
For press and media inquiries please contact:
Nino Gvianishvili, Oxfam Georgia Communications Officer: NGvianishvili@oxfam.org.uk
Dani TabukaShvili, Biological Farming Association “Elkana”, Project Manager fs@elkana.org.ge
Maia Chitaia, Action Global Communications: maia.chitaia@actionprgroup.com mob: 599 49 00 12