The village of Khurvaleti, in Georgia’s Gori district, lies just across the de facto border of South Ossetia. Mediko Joieva, an ethnic Ossetian, has lived there her whole life. For as long as she or anyone can remember, the village’s population has been a mixture of ethnic Ossetians and Georgians. Ms. Joieva’s husband is Georgian, and theirs is among many mixed marriages in the village. Throughout the years, Georgians and Ossetians have lived together here in peace.

The events of August 2008 illustrated the solidarity of the community. As Russian troops and Ossetian militias occupied Khurvaleti, Ms. Joieva and other local ethnic Ossetians prevented the looting and destruction of their Georgian neighbors’ homes. Unfortunately, because of the conflict, residents of the village were not able to harvest their crops on time. Even after the end of hostilities, many fields were damaged by tanks, burned by flares ejected from passing helicopters or intentionally destroyed. Ms. Joieva, like her neighbors, lost her entire crop and with it the only opportunity to earn any income until next harvest. Worse, without any income from the 2008 harvest, she had no money to plant a new crop.

However, thanks to the USAID/OFDA-funded Georgia Agricultural Risk Reduction Program (GARRP), Ms. Joieva received voucher assistance to cover the cost of plowing, cultivating and planting her small, 1.25 hectare land plot with winter wheat. By harvest time next August, the crop is expected to be worth $1,500 for the family, allowing them to reinvest in their farm.

Almost 300 families benefited from the GARRP initiative in Khurvaleti village alone, allowing them to take advantage of the first possible opportunity to re-launch agricultural production and start down the road to recovery.