Foreign Experts will Provide Agro-consulting Services to Georgian Farmers

At the initiative of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, changes have been made to the Technical Assistance Programme. According to the decision adopted at the Government meeting, a new component has been added to the state programme — co-financing of services provided by foreign experts.

The programme defines two types of services: consultant and technical consultant.

• The consultant will provide advisory services related to agricultural activities for both annual and perennial crops, in open fields as well as in greenhouses.

• The technical consultant will provide consultations related to post-harvest technologies.

Under the programme, 70% of the service cost of a foreign consultant will be covered by the Rural Development Agency. The co-financing limit is 30,000 GEL.
For technical consultants, the co-financing limit is also 70%, but not exceeding 10,000 GEL.
A beneficiary may use the programme twice per year, with a total annual co-financing limit of 40,000 GEL.

To receive co-financing for foreign consultancy services, the beneficiary must be:

• A non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entity (association) consisting of at least 10 members,

• An agricultural cooperative, or

• A legal entity under public law (based on membership) created in accordance with the Law of Georgia on “Water User Organizations” or the Law on “Legal Entities under Public Law”, also consisting of at least 10 members.

In order to qualify for foreign consulting services, the potential beneficiary must have an agronomist and meet at least one of the following criteria:

✅ For perennial crops – at least 50 hectares of a single crop, or 30 hectares in the case of berries;
✅ For potatoes or grain crops – at least 100 hectares of a single crop;
✅ For vegetables or melons (annual crops) – at least 50 hectares of cultivated land;
✅ For greenhouse production – at least 1 hectare of greenhouse area;
✅ For post-harvest technical consultancy – ownership of storage infrastructure with a capacity of at least 2,000 tonnes.

The changes introduced to the programme will support the sharing of international expertise in the agro-food sector and improve agricultural production in Georgia, which in turn will help increase both the volume and quality of future harvests.