BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.17
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
State programs in support of small and medium-sized farms, launched in Georgia in the spring as part of the anti-crisis plan "Caring for the village, for the farmer" adopted against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, are being carried out without interruption, Trend reports via the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture.
In particular, the program "Incentives for owners of agricultural land", as of November 6, has already covered about 170,000 farmers. The total amount of state subsidies under this program exceeded 29.5 million lari ($8.8 million), of which 23.4 million lari ($7 million) have already been spent by farmers.
More than 123,000 farmers have received discounts on diesel fuel purchased for agricultural work within the framework of the state program "Assistance to Agrodiesel". The total volume of fuel they bought at discounted prices amounted to 32,000 tons.
About 3,000 farmers became beneficiaries of a special component of the “Preferential agricultural loan” program, which provides for state co-financing to cover interest rates on bank loans taken for current expenses in connection with the cultivation of annual crops. As of November 6, 2,893 agricultural loans with a total volume of over 57 million lari ($17 million) fell under this component. The amount of payments already made by the state amounted to 4.7 million lari ($1.4 million).
Another 387 farmers have become participants in the "Promotion of agricultural production" program. This program provides for 50 percent grant support for projects of small and medium-sized farms in three main areas - the purchase of agricultural equipment, the arrangement or modernization of greenhouses and the installation of irrigation systems for annual crops.
According to the ministry, these and other state support programs in the field of agriculture apply only to farmers who have registered their land plots in the National Register of Real Estate, and have also been registered in the special register of farmers under the Ministry of Agriculture.
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