Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia (MOA)

Amelioration and Land Management DepartmentSoil Management Division

Eka SanadzeHead of Division, PhD in Agriculture

15/02/2016

Brief Information about Georgia

25%9%

5%

60%

1%

Agricultural lands of Georgia

arable lands

perranual crops

grassland

pasture

home-holders

Georgia is a small country and its area consists of 69 700 square kilometers. 43 % from the total area is used for agricultural purposes, the rest 57% is covered with forests, other natural resources as well as urban settlement.Approximately 25% of the agricultural land is arable, while 9% is covered with perennial crops. As for the pasture and grassland, totally comprise 65%.Georgia is rich in water resources where you can encounter with 26060 rivers and 850 lakes. There are 734 glaciers on the southern slope of Caucasus, in which 23,8 cubic kilometer volume of water is accumulated. Moreover, in the western and eastern parts of Georgia, the volume of water in the swamps comprises 1,63 cubic kilometer. Lastly, the ground water supply is 18,0 cubic kilometer.According to the survey conducted by Georgian National Statistics Service in 2015, the country’s population is approximately 3 729 500.

Georgia as a country with enormous opportunities and ancient traditions faced formidable challenges in recent history. Thus, process of economic transformation, current climate change as well as irrational

approaches towards soils negatively impacted the agriculture.

• Almost half of an agricultural land area (47%) was excluded from the agricultural production because of erosion, secondary salinity or water logging. Due to the erosion "soil migration" started in Adjara (which

is one of the regions having produced subtropical crops in Soviet Union countries) that implies abandoning original dwellings by the population.

• In 1992-1998 due to the land reforms, the land management approaches were entirely changed. During the Land reform land fragmentation was ongoing, which caused formation of less economically viable

farming. As a result, in a small farm the land area was 0,25 ha.

• The essential criteria for the development of agricultural market - primary registration, land balance, the precise area of agricultural land, its condition and distribution in public as well as in private sectors - still remain as a burning issue, which impede not only the rational implementation of land management

policy, but also prevents from the planning of necessary measures for agricultural development. In addition, it is noticeable that there is a lack of more or less precise information regarding the soil

condition in the country.

• Irrational use of soils still remains burning issue in agriculture of Georgia which negatively afflicts on the productivity of country.

1. To create an environment that will increase competitiveness in agro food sector;

2. To promote stable growth of high quality Agricultural production;

3. To ensure food safety and security;4. To eliminate rural poverty through sustainable

development of Agriculture and rural areas;

The vision of the Agriculture Development Strategy of Georgia

National Action plans, an initiatives related to SSM/SLMNational action plans which are associated with SSM/SLM are the following:a) Development of agricultural land market and introduction of modern approaches in land use;

• Technical works are undergoing - data collection, capacity building - in an effort to set up modern geo-informational system - LPIS; • Farmer register (Some information has been collected on location of land parcels, areas and land use in some regions of Georgia. Data was reflected in the unified geo-informational base);• Refinement of legislation base which is associated with Land; • Elaboration of strategy document on land consolidation;

b) Improvement of farmers knowledge and provision of efficient agricultural extension service support;

• Extension services which are included in the MOA have been formed in the regions of Georgia. Since 2015, services have been working on the information/extension packages with assistance of LEPL Scientific-Research Center of MOA. Farmers and rural entrepreneurs will be provided with these materials which are being prepared in accordance with international standards and approved models and they are about necessary measures for efficient production of plant and livestock. The latter, increases income and competitiveness of employed in Agro sector. • Moreover, the lectures and seminars as well as demonstration plots will be conducted and organized in the regions.

c) Rational use of soil;• Refinement of legislation base which is associated with Soil; • Different thematic projects associated with degradation of

soils are being carried out by sub-structural units of MOA but the project proposals are being developed in the Soil Management Division of MOA. At the same time, the latter has been working on renovation of soil data base ;

• “Soil Fertility Division” of LEPL Scientific-Research Center carries out researches on soil fertility systems, rules of irrigation as well as soil cultivation and other issues;

d) Promoting Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practice;• Climate-smart approach is an important component of the

Strategy and Action Plan. The MOA participating in developing of relevant national and municipal programs in close collaboration with Governmental institutions, local authorities, NGOs and private sector representatives.

• In coordination with the MOE (Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources) modern system of agro-climate monitoring will be introduced. As a result, soil moisture, soil temperature or other data will be delivered to farmers through extension services;

1. Lack of Soil informational system; - Geo-informational material concerning soil cover of Georgia is of paramount impotence for the MOA. This information consists of digital maps of soil Bonity (1:10 000m), geo-ecologically sensitive areas (1:100 000m; 1:500 000m), morphological signs of soil profiles described by international standards, some chemical as well as physical characteristics of soils. Soil data was created in the old versions appropriate to 2005-year technology. Consequently, now we have out-of-date soil database, which is not suitable to the current informational technologies of the Ministry. Thus, the database needs renovation.

2. Lack of monitoring system for soil conservation; - lack of technological environment in which monitoring of Georgian soils would be carried out; - Lack of networking system in which data as well as databases would be exchanged not only on national but also on the regional level;

Technical & Capacity constraints that hinder the wide distribution of SSM practices

3. Unsatisfactory legislative base on rational use of soils; - distribution of authorities between landowners and land users in order to neither limit the primary production process nor spoil quality of soil; - technical regulations which refer to prevention of fertile layers of soil should be modernized;

4. Lack of soil management and action plans; 5. Limited availability of financial resorces for wider SLM adaptation; 6. Gaps related to deficiency of methodological basis (soil salinity, land degradation assessment, mitigation of climate change);

Legal, financial and normative standards that hinder the wide distribution of SSM practices

7. Lack of knowledge of soil management, soil mapping, cartography;8. Lack of specialists in direction of the genetic soil science;9. Lack of awareness associated with soil importance in the private sector as well as in the civil society;10. Insufficient exchange of experiences & data;

Knowledge, Awareness and Technological transfer that hinder the wide distribution of

SSM practices

11. Lack of research SLM partnership program on adaptation of SSM

innovations;

12. lack of technologies to enhance flexible response and wider scaling up;

Communication and integration of science into decision-making

1. Financial resources;2. Development of technological environment;

3. Implementation of research SLM or other partnership programs on adaptation of SSM innovations and technologies;

4. Capacity development programs on soil information, degradation, climate smart agriculture and etc. ;

Response for the adaptation of SSM practices at national and regional level

Thank you for attention !