Press Release
USAID Agriculture Program launched to create jobs and increase private sector investment in Georgia
On November 19, 2018, leaders in the public and private sector, including U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, Ambassador Ross Wilson; USAID Mission Director, Peter Wiebler; Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Nodar Kereselidze, and leading Georgian agribusinesses convened to announce the launch of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Agriculture Program.
This new five-year program, implemented by CNFA (Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture), an international agriculture development organization, will work closely with the Georgian Government and Georgia’s agribusiness leaders to create more rural jobs, improve rural livelihoods and advance sustainable economic growth and development in Georgia.
The program will mobilize past USAID partners and prominent Georgian agribusinesses to share the knowledge and skills they have acquired with new participants of the program. Technical assistance will be accompanied by co-financing targeting micro, small, and medium enterprises as well as cooperatives to address constraints in the availability of planting materials, production, post-harvest handling, processing, and market access.
The USAID Agriculture Program plans to create 3,000 new jobs, increase sales by 60 million USD and leverage over 7 million USD of increased investments from the private sector over the course of the five-year project.
Links to coverage of the launch event by Georgian media can be found below:
- https://imedinews.ge/ge/ekonomika/86066/usaidis-soplis-meurneobis-akhali-programa-gaikhsna
- https://bpn.ge/ekonomika/50584-usaid-is-soflis-meurneobis-akhali-programis-farglebshi-dagegmilia-3-000-samushao-adgilis-sheqmna.html?lang=ka-GE
- https://www.interpressnews.ge/ka/article/521749-nodar-kereselize-usaid-is-soplis-meurneobis-axali-programis-prezentacias-daescro/