Increasing the Competitiveness and Export Potential for Georgia's High-Value Agriculture Sector

Though Georgia’s high-value agriculture sector has enormous potential to drive Georgia’s export economy, it still faces numerous hurdles that limit the country’s competitiveness. The Economic Prosperity Initiative (EPI), funded by USAID, will improve enterprise, industry, and country-level competitiveness in Georgia by identifying and targeting key factors to enhance the growth rates and productivity of Georgian enterprises. Working in carefully selected value chains, EPI will provide technical assistance to enterprises, facilitate trade through creating market linkages between producers and buyers, enhance access to credit through grants, and assist in strengthening agricultural policy.

Working as a key part of Deloitte’s team, CNFA is focusing specifically on improving the competitiveness of targeted agricultural sectors. Beginning with a thorough assessment phase, CNFA will conduct research, engage value chain stakeholders, pinpoint those agricultural value chains that have the greatest potential for growth, and finally identify the constraints keeping them from reaching that potential.

To ensure success occurs both quickly and is sustainable, this component of the project will operate on two tracks. The first develops short-term interventions that have tangible benefits in a shorter time frame. The second track is longer-term agricultural development strategies that concentrate on market-focused agricultural services and strategies to improve competitiveness and efficiency.

CNFA and the rest of the Deloitte team will work at all points along the targeted value chains, beginning with producers and input suppliers. EPI will make great use of the CNFA’s network of 60 farm and machinery service centers, which will serve as delivery points for extension, outreach and advocacy. EPI will also build on CNFA’s work with Georgian processors to improve operations and quality standards (GlobalGAP, ISO, HACCP) to respond to international market demand.

EPI has identified the hazelnuts, wine, fresh fruit, processed fruit, berries, vegetable root crops, fresh vegetables, and processed vegetables value chains as particularly promising as it continues its assessments. These value chains will be targeted for technical assistance, training and study tours, as well as grants. During EPI, CNFA will increase revenues by 10-20 percent for 8,000 agricultural enterprises and train 40 agriculture and enterprise service providers to deliver assistance and training to more than 30,000 farms.