Government to Subsidize Grape Harvest 2016

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced the Georgian Government is to subsidize the 2016 grape harvest and support farmers in selling their produce in full. The amount of subsidy will depend on the grape variety.

“We have made this decision after long discussions. We are focusing on two directions; on one hand we want to develop the local wine industrry and on the other hand we will develop and explore new markets,” said the PM. “We are spending resources on both fronts. Naturally, during the transitional period, until we find as many markets as needed for local grape implementation, we need to finance the development of export markets,” he added.

Last year the Government paid USD 0.15 (0.35 GEL) to farmers per kilogram of Rkatsiteli and Kakhuri Mtsvane (white grape varieties sold to factories) and USD 0.064 (0.15 GEL) for Saperavi (red grape variety). This year the Government plans to pay USD 0.19 (0.45 GEL) per kilogram of Rkatsiteli and USD 0.085 (0.20 GEL) for Saperavi.

The subsidy program in 2015 cost at least USD 12.8 million (30 million GEL).

The PM stressed that after comprehensive support of the field, there would be no need to budget money for farmers and concluded by highlighting that in the first six months of the year Georgia's wine exports increased by 44 percent.

Eka Karsaulidze