As a result of the summer 2008 hostilities, more than 100,000 Georgians were temporarily displaced from their homes. Although many have returned to their homes, their livelihoods were not easily restored. The USAID-funded Georgia Agricultural Risk Reduction Program (GARRP) addressed the needs of nearly 40,000 farm families from the Shida Kartli region in their recovery from the economic impact of the conflict. The project addressed crucial food security and income generation issues in the affected communities of Kaspi, Kareli and Gori districts.

Through GARRP, CNFA provided livelihood assistance to local farmers, as well as resettled internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had been issued agricultural land, to ensure successful spring crop planting and orchard assistance. CNFA coordinated with local government to verify beneficiary lists for each community, with priority given to IDPs and then subsistence-level smallholders whose food security and livelihoods were most at risk. Beneficiary lists were posted publicly for community review and monitoring teams continually spot-checked the lists for accuracy.

GARRP operated a three-track voucher system:

• Voucher System for Corn Producers: Vouchers for seed, fertilizer and machinery were distributed to IDP families to produce a crop which garner over $10.7 million at harvest. The project also mobilized local machinery service providers and organized the provision of plowing, cultivation, planting and fertilizer application services for approximately 9,200 hectares.
• Voucher System for Orchard Inputs: Farm families received electronic voucher cards for orchard inputs to be used in at least eight retail locations in the area and choose the products they needed, when they needed them. At harvest, these crops fetched over $52 million.
• Voucher System for Winter Wheat: This third prong targeted families who were either late receiving land or whose land has been recently decontaminated from unexploded ordinances. Crops benefiting from this activity sold for over $190 million.

Project Results & Impacts:

• More than 39,000 farm families (nearly 120,000 people), including IDPs, benefited.
• Crop yields were improved on approximately 24,000 hectares of land in conflict-affected areas.
• Total value of harvested crops from assisted areas topped $73 million.
• $26.9 million was injected into the local economy

Related Links

Rapid Response Protects Livelihoods in Georgia

Georgian Couple Benefits from Voucher Program

Program Overview: Georgia Agricultural Risk Reduction Program

Update 6/2009