Two new cold-storage facilities for fruits supported by CNFA’s Agribusiness Development Activity (ADA) were inaugurated in Georgia’s Khakheti region on March 11, 2010. The presentations were attended by Georgia’s Minister of Agriculture Bakur Kvezereli, the US Ambassador to Georgia John Bass, the Governor of Kakheti George Gciniashvilli, as well as as well as representatives from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Millennium Challenge Georgia, CNFA, international organizations, the civil society and the business sector.
The two facilities have created a total of 72 jobs in the Kakheti region and will benefit over 200 farmers. Supported by a grant of $150,000 from CNFA’s ADA, each company also made a matching investment to establish modern cold storage facilities for fruits in their respective towns of Sagarejo and Gurjaani respectively. CNFA’s grants were used to purchase modern storage and cooling equipment. Environmental mitigation and marketing concerns were incorporated in the design processes to ensure sustainable, eco-friendly and effective enterprises.
I/E Z. Medulashvili, located in Sagarejo, facilitates the storage, sorting and packing of various types of regional fresh fruits such as kiwis, apricots, peaches, cherries and strawberries. The facility is equipped with cooling and pre-cooling units, a ventilation system to ensure high-quality produce as well as storage equipment. I/E I. Giorgadze’s new facility, located in Gurjaani, is an industrial-scale cold storage facility for fruits that allows for centralized regulation of temperatures and humidity and will thereby minimize spoilage and ensure high-quality fruits.
CNFA’s $20.2 million Agribusiness Development Activity in Georgia (ADA), which is funded by the Millennium Challenge Georgia Fund, supports sustainable, long-term agricultural growth by strengthening commercial linkages. ADA awards farmers and agribusinesses matching grants on a competitive basis to develop farm service centers, value-adding enterprises, value chain initiatives and primary production practices. These activities will provide 36,000 rural farmers improved access to innovative agricultural production technology, inputs, quality control practices and output marketing.
The two cold storage facilities supported by ADA in the Kakheti provide critical support for Georgia’s fruit sector, a potentially high-value agricultural sector constrained by the lack of cold storage infrastructure. Since farmers cannot store their produce, they are forced to sell it during the harvest season when prices are low. By providing access to affordable cold storage, the new facilities will allow farmers to increase their incomes.
Besides the most recent beneficiaries, ADA has signed 287 agreements for the development of small and medium enterprises and farm service centers, with a total value of $16.25 million in matching grants. This will equally leverage over $16 million in private sector investments and lead to the creation of 3,600 jobs in rural parts of Georgia.
