250 Farmers Arrange Blueberry Plantations on 479 Hectares in Samegrelo Region
As the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Governor’s Office reports, 250 farmers have arranged blueberry plantations on 470 hectares in Samegrelo Region, as pat of the Plant the Future state program.
The Government provides 100% subsidies for plants and drip systems for arranging gardens of about 0.5 hectares, as part of the berry subcomponent of the mentioned program.
Farmer Abesalom Garmelia is one of the beneficiaries of the program. In the village of Narazeni, Zugdidi Municipality, he has arranged blueberry plantations on 3 hectares and other varieties of berry on 6 hectares in addition. The farmer expects to receive the first harvest in 2020 and plans to export 10 tons of blueberry to Europe.
Abesalom Garmelia has also joined the Agriculture Ministry program – namely, he will receive fuel subsidies and a 200-GEL assistance for each hectare.
“The assistance provided for farmers as part of the anti-crisis plan is of crucial importance. This program will boost production in villages and enhance farming. We collect information on the condition of various agriculture cultures. Now we are visiting blueberry plantations. As we know, blueberry plantations in our region cover 470 hectares thanks to the Plant the Future subprogram for arranging berry gardens. At this stage, 250 beneficiaries have engaged in the program. The program goes on and applications are constantly accepted. It is important that farmers have received both irrigation systems and plants free of charge and this is an essential state assistance”, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti first deputy Governor Malkhaz Toria noted.
According to the Village Development Agency, blueberry plantations in Samegrelo Region will grow to 1000 hectares in 2021.