The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Minister of Agriculture, the National Food Agency and SDC funded, Mercy Corps Georgia implemented ALCP on March 31st 2015. Within the framework of this memorandum ALCP will facilitate the building of two Bio-security yards with water points on the Animal Movement Route in Kvemo Kartli region, another three Bio-security yards will be financed from the State Budget. The Bio-security Yards are concreted, fenced areas with sheep dipping bathes and cattle showers for disinfection and water points. The Animal Movement Route is used by over a million head of sheep and cattle each year as they move from winter pastures in Kakheti to summer pastures in Samstkhe Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli and Tusheti and is vital for the livestock of Georgia.
Signing this Memorandum was preceded by four years work of the ALCP team with various players from public, private and civil sectors of Georgia. SDC’s support has been pivotal from the beginning of the process. After identifying the Animal Movement Route as a key constraint for development of the Georgian sheep sector and as the main source for spreading the animal diseases, the programme efforts were directed to advocate this issue at all levels of government and facilitate involvement in this process all stakeholders using the programme Advisory Committee. A documentary film “The Road”, strengthening the Georgian Shepherds Association, Tsintskaro village bypass construction and the concrete AMR infrastructural plan provided by the international livestock expert Edward Hamer have built the Government’s momentum – which following the collapse of the Soviet Union will be first time when the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Food Agency will work to reduce the risk of livestock diseases and support sheep sector development by improving the animal movement route infrastructure.
A German beekeeping magazine Deutsches Bienen-Journal with circulation of 52,000 copies a month published a comprehensive article on beekeeping in Georgia and its history, local bee breed Mountain Grey Caucasian Honey Bee (Apis mellifera caucasica) and Jara honey a special mention of the project’s work.
The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Cheese, better work: The Alliances Caucasus Programme’s Impact on Informality and Working Conditions in Georgia’s Dairy Sector which explores formalization within the dairy value chain in Georgia stemming from ALCP market systems interventions, is now available on the ALCP website.
The ILO and ALCP worked together from summer 2019 to bring this research to completion. There are several reasons for the timeliness and importance of this report; chief amongst them is the ever present need for lessons learnt from MSD programmes, which can be applied in others, secondly the need to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach with a detailed account of systemic change and thirdly the growing importance in development programming of evaluating the efficacy of the MSD approach to develop quality employment at scale.
From the beginning of June, the two most popular national TV stations Imedi TV and TV Pirveli have been broadcasting the Georgian Milk Mark (GMM) animation video five times a day during prime time for free as a part of social advertising. Those televisions have national coverage reaching a high number of consumers.
There are now ten GMM dairy enterprises’ products available in fifteen supermarket chains across Georgia. Detailed information to be found on www.georgianmilk.ge.
On the May 20th, 4,400 beekeepers registered in the new GBU database received an SMS notification from the Georgian Beekeepers Union (GBU) on how to treat Varroa, the most common bee disease in Georgia.
The GBU will continue informing its members through phone Facebook. And their new official webpage is now online: www.geobeekeepers.ge.
Created in 2018, the GBU is an umbrella association uniting ten beekeeping associations and three commercial beekeeping companies.
The Georgian Beekeepers Union (GBU) successfully advocated for permits to be issued for beekeepers allowing them to continue work during the curfew.
The Government of Georgia declared the nationwide curfew on March 30th, 2020 to restrict the spread of the COVID-19 virus, prohibiting any movement from 9:00 PM to 06:00 AM. This posed a serious problem for beekeepers who rely on transhumance predominantly at night.
In Georgia, bee transhumance allows for beekeepers to place hives at different altitudes to capture the flowering of different plants. Starting from late Spring, Georgian beekeepers start to move apiaries to get different types of honey including Acacia,Chestnut, Alpine, Linden. The transhumance of bees significantly increases their honey productivity.
On April 4th, the GBU sent an official letter to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA) asking for the issuing of permission/passes for beekeepers including the guidance it developed for beekeepers during the Covid-19 outbreak.
‘We asked the Minister to mediate with the appropriate agencies to issue special permits, so that beekeepers may access their apiaries and work there, transport beekeeping apiaries for transhumance on pre-determined routes within the curfew conditions.’ – Avksenti Papava, the Director of the GBU.
Up to eight hundred beekeepers have already used permits, who are now able to visit apiaries and carry out vital seasonal treatment and maintenance. Bees are transported at night where possible, because they do not leave a hive during night, which the permit makes possible.
‘I have my apiaries located in the different regions for getting various types of honey. I was very happy to hear about special permit for beekeepers, as it is very active season in beekeeping. I am able to freely move to the locations and do not worry about time limitations’ – Kakhaber Zirakasvili, a beekeeper.
Guidance and contact information on getting permits and the Covid-19 recommendations have been shared by the GBU on its facebook page.
The Georgian Beekeepers Union (www.geobeekeepers.ge) is an umbrella association uniting ten beekeeping associations and three commercial beekeeping companies with more than four thousand Georgian beekeepers. It was established to represent their interests and to promote the health and development of the honey sector in Georgia with the facilitation of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) project the Mercy Corps Georgia implemented Alliances Caucasus Programme (ALCP).
In the midst of anxiety under the COVID-19, some people rise to the occasion when faced with adversity and it is uplifting to hear stories about them. As for many others it has been difficult times for the client businesses of the programme, but they have continued to help people most affected by the current crisis over the past two weeks.
Ten dairy enterprises with the Georgian Milk Mark www.georgianmilk.ge provided cheese for the medical staff of hospitals in the frontline of battling the virus as well as people under quarantine and locals in the lockdown areas in the different regions of Georgia, who have limited access to the markets.
‘It is now important to show support to each other. I was very happy to see reactions from people, who were very surprised and thankful. I think those GMM enterprises set very good example for others.’ – A GMM cheese distributor.
The Georgian Beekeepers Union (www.geobeekeepers.ge), uniting ten beekeeping associations and three commercial beekeeping companies supplied 1.2 tonnes of honey for further distribution among medical staff and vulnerable groups.
The Kakhetian Traditional Winemaking group’s (programme facilitated honey aggregator and exporter company) forty-one rooms hotel-complex is being used as a quarantine zone, the company also supplied food to locals over seventy in two regions of Georgia within a social project ‘Care for Each Other’ initiated after the virus outbreak and is now offering online sales and a free home delivery of its products (wine, compotes, jams, including, honey); the company’s webpage Old Kakheti went online to improve online sales.
These are a few examples and continuation of the kindness acts that started a month ago.
