Meeting at Georgian Parliament on Gender

On 21^st of May a meeting was held with Shorena Bziava, Gender Equality Council secretary at Georgian Parliament in Kutaisi. Alliances KK representatives introduced the programme Gender activities - a new municipal service Women’s Room and Guidelines for the Village Reps.

“I’m very impressed. I think the Women’s Room is a good idea. At this time the Ministry of Regional Development is working on the draft law for the local self-government arrangements and they need to put there some Gender issues too, so the council will recommend the Ministry to consider Women’s Room idea. We’ve seen a lot papers and a little work done on Gender equality issues in Georgia but the Alliances KK initiative is different, this is already being implemented by local municipalities and the council will support it.” – Mrs.  Bziava,

 As a result of this meeting, 12 members of the Gender Equality Council, vice-speaker of the Parliament Manana Kobakhidze and an advisor on Gender issues of the Prime-Minister of Georgia Tamar Chugoshvili will receive information about Alliances KK initiatives – the Women’s Room and Gender Guidelines.

18/11/2015

Construction of the two Bio Security Points (BSP) on the Animal Movement Routes in Marneuli and Rustavi is now on a final stage.

Each 2000 square meters point is already concreted and fenced and the sheep dips and cattle showers are ready and the site office in place. The 50 ton galvanized water Tanks imported from the UK are installed. For both points the NFA will hire staff including a veterinarian.

12/11/2015

The OLMA trade show – a Swiss Agricultural and Food Fair has been held every year since 1943 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The year’s 74^th exhibition was held from  8-18 of October. 623 exhibitors and 375000 visitors attended the show.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) was the one of the exhibitors this year. The SDC created 8 country stands including that of the Swiss Cooperation Office for the South Caucasus.

05/11/2015

Name: Natural Produktsia Ltd

Place: Dioknisi Village, Khulo Municipality

Type of business: Cheese Factory

Product: Imeruli Cheese

Suppliers: about 450 women from 13 villages of Khulo

Current production per day: 5 tons of milk  (700 kg of cheese) 

The Problem

The 450 women now selling milk directly to the milk collectors of the Natural Produktsia Ltd Factory in Dioknisi, Khulo used to make cheese from their milk.  Women are responsible for milking the household cattle and making the cheese, butter, sour cream and cottage cheese which is then sold as an important part of the family’s livelihood.

Selling these products however is hard and uncertain. The journey by marshutka to Batumi Agrarian Market can take up to 4 hours on bad roads. It is taken to the market by husbands or other male family members or sent with the driver and met by a relative who then tries to sell it. There is no guarantee of a sale and often the family is forced to accept a low price from the market vendors rather than take it home again.

07/10/2015

The NFA announced a tender on September 28^th for the construction of two further Bio Security Points of the same design in Dedoplistskaro and Sighnaghi municipalities. The tender winner company was identified on October 5^th.

06/10/2015

For the first time in Georgia 6 universities will soon offer specialized courses on agricultural journalism.

The universities in Batumi, Kutaisi, Gori, Telavi, Akhaltcikhe and Caucasus International Universities in Tbilisi who already offer academic programmes on journalism, mass communications and agricultural education will now add agro journalism. The course prospective tutors have just had Training of Trainers for two days.

16/09/2015

Following work in KK and SJ  the Women’s Room model is being replicated in Ajara region, where Ajara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) is proving an invaluable partner by opening the first Women’s Room at the Association of Business Women of Ajara (ABWA).

The “Women’s Room” will open up opportunities for the ABWA in terms of coordinating activities, trainings, advocacy raising meetings and information sharing. All these will contribute into stimulating women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment and attracting more women members to the association.

30/08/2022

    The Rural Development Agency (RDA), representing Georgia at the 47th Apimondia Congress 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey, was awarded a Gold Medal for outstanding design of a trade stand in the 36 square meters category. Georgia was selected from among twelve other nominees. This year was distinguished by the strongest ever representation of Georgian beekeeping at the Apimondia Congress. Now it is the third time that Georgia has attended. Eight honey producing and exporting companies exhibited on the winning Georgia stand, showcasing honey, queen bees, and other beekeeping products including cosmetics. The congress proved highly profitable for the Georgian representatives in establishing linkages, potential partnerships and experience sharing with beekeeping associations the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia, the Slovak Beekeepers Association and the Turkey Beekeepers’ Association. The potential for Jara honey to apply for Fairtrade certification was discussed with Fairtrade International representatives. Representatives and judges of the London Honey Awards also visited the Georgian stand. A few Georgian companies have won silver and bronze at the award in 2022. A strong representation to the third London Honey Awards in 2023 by the Georgian Beekeepers Union members will be facilitated by the programme.

23/08/2022

    The 47th Apimondia Congress 2022, the most significant event in beekeeping worldwide, will take place from 24th to 28th August in Istanbul, Turkey. For the third time and with the strongest representation to date, the Georgian Beekeepers Union (GBU) and eight member companies will showcase the Georgian honey sector with the full financial sponsorship of the Rural Development Agency (RDA) under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA). The eight honey producing and exporting companies who will exhibit different types of Georgian honey, including, bio Jara honey are: KTW Agro Keda, Rukhi Queen, Geo Natural, Cooperative Racha Natural Products, Api Geo, Tapli Sakhlshi, Cooperative Ska, Ska-Kodala. A short movie on Georgian beekeeping produced for the event will be showing in the Georgian booth. An e-poster presentation in the Beekeeping Economy section in the academic conference side of the Expo entitled A Revival of Georgian Traditional Beekeeping – Jara Beekeeping will be showcased as well.  

16/06/2022

On June 16th the Journalism Resource Centre celebrated the opening of the first local TV media TOK TV in Tsalka municipality. Three local journalists attended journalism courses on reporting for one month. As Tsalka is a multiethnic municipality the journalists represent Georgian, Azerbaijani and Armenian communities. ‘We will report on the issues that are important in increasing transparency and accountability among the general population and local officials. Reports related to agricultural issues will be one of the main topics for our work. Local people will be engaged in the decision-making around ongoing local development. Especially, this is important after the newly opened tourist attraction in Dashbashi Canyon.’ - Local Journalist Nazi Meshveliani said.