USAID Zrda Activity in Georgia: Boosting Agriculture through Technology and Innovations - Diplomat Magazine

Katy Tchumburidze is the Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Zrda Activity in Georgia. She brings more than 20 years of technical and project management experience for a variety of USAID-funded projects in Georgia, like AgVantage, Economic Prosperity Initiative (EPI), and Governing for Growth (G4G). Keti Chumburidze spoke to us at Diplomat Magazine about the priorities, innovative approaches and major accomplishment of the USAID Zrda Activity in Georgia.

I have been working on various USAID projects for about 22 years. We started Zrda project 4 years ago, where, initially, I was the Deputy Chief of Party. Recently, the former Chief of Party has moved to another country for a new assignment, so I took over the leadership of the project. Zrda is currently the largest USAID-funded project in Georgia. The geography of the project activities was clearly defined from the very beginning of the program operations to target communities in proximity to the administrative boundary lines - in Shida Kartli, Samegrelo-ZemoSvaneti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti and communities with ethnic minority popula¬tions – in Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli. Later on, when the project received additional funding, we were able to expand our geographic coverage to the Akhmeta Municipality, with a particular focus on Pankisi Valley and Tusheti. These regions are of special importance in terms of economic, business and tourism development.

What is the purpose of the program? Also, what are the innovative approaches and technologies it offers?

Our program was designed to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth in target regions by improving micro, small, and medium sized enterprise growth and increase productivity of rural households along the administrative boundary lines and communities with ethnic minority populations. We work to facilitate market linkages between agricultural producers and buyers and promote local economic development by establishing and strengthening networks. As such, Zrda introduces innovative technologies and practices to enable agriculture value chain stakeholders to reduce production costs, boost yields, improve quality, access new markets, and generate increased income from the sale of their products and services.

Other areas of Zrda interventions are tourism and services. All these sectors are critically important for Georgia’s economic growth, as we all know that before the pandemic crisis, tourism was a major economic engine at a global and local level. Therefore, the Zrda intervention plays an important role in contributing to the sustainable development of our target communities so that we leave behind strong and sustainable businesses, having the capacity to expand their operations in future. I think that through our project, we have taken important steps in terms of economic development and I am glad that the team has accomplished many tangible results. As such, we have created unique models worth replicating across the country.

Zrda’s priority areas are agriculture and tourism development as you mentioned, how is the program intended to bring development to these areas, and what impact has COVID-19 had on your project directions?

One of the priority areas of Zrda interventions before the COVID-19 pandemic was to strengthen resilience of our target communities against various risks, including natural hazards such as hail, avalanches, fires, at the municipal level. We believed that strengthening against these risks would, in turn, contribute to the development of agriculture and tourism. In line with this, we have worked actively with our partner Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG) to develop and implement Risk Management Plans in seventeen target municipalities. What this means – for example, in various emergency situations, a high-level group is always set up to manage the situation. At such times, it is also important to have an emergency management plan locally, at the municipal level, and a pre-defined role for all actors. COVID-19 pandemic crises clearly showcased the critical necessity for emergency management plans in the regions.

We faced quite a number of challenges when the pandemic hit the country - spring farming activities were in full swing and it was the beginning of the tourism season which was at a risk of a failure. To accelerate the process of recovery, the decision was made to help agriculture and tourism sector stakeholders adapt to the new reality, beat this disruption and minimize its impact on their lives and their businesses. Just some of the examples of USAID Zrda’s response to pandemic crises: Zrda equipped Emergency Management Service with brand new field hospital tens for quarantine zones; in partnership with the Georgian National Tourism Administration, Zrda initiated an activity to give the informational support on the Government’s regulations to Hotels, Guesthouses, Restaurants as well as Guides and Tour Operators. Within the framework of this activity, the Zrda-selected volunteers conducted door-to-door visits to up to 450 tourism businesses - local business operators, hotels, guesthouses, catering businesses across Zrda target municipalities and communities, and distributed brochures on the updated regulations with an aim to support domestic tourism development across the country. To restore the consumer confidence in post pandemic era, as well as to help Georgian Tour Operators identify and develop products that are particularly appealing to different market segments, USAID Zrda supported yet another round of Information Tours around its target regions. Initiatives like this aim to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the crisis and assist travel value chain players to shape the sector in line with new reality and stay competitive on the market.

The Mobile app, Agronavti, was created in 2017 to facilitate the sale of farm products. How easy was it for farmers to adapt to this application? Were there any difficulties, and how effectively does it work in terms of selling the farmer’s products, entering the new market, and connecting?

As you know, due to the pandemic, all Zrda-supported agriculture trainings and consulting services moved online. Today new advancements in technology have brought very dynamic changes to the agricultural sector which simply means that farmers have to embrace the use of smart technology to facilitate more productive and efficient farming activities. The use of digital technologies has become of utmost importance during pandemic crisis when a high percentage of sales worldwide has moved to e-commerce model. Of note, Zrda-supported electronic platforms like kalo.ge and Agronavti create opportunities for Georgian agricultural producers to access new markets as well as receive transparent and effective solutions. Kalo.ge offers a lot of useful information to its customers while first agribusiness digital Agronavti has developed into an easy and flexible electronic system, which creates opportunities for Georgian agricultural producers to access new markets. The idea of this application belongs to our partner Georgian Farmers’ Association which continues to look for ways to improve the application and facilitate the integration of new features so that to develop a commercial product with a potential to be replicated to other countries as well.

Another amazing project implemented in partnership with the Georgian Farmers’ Association is Agrostop. Specifically, Zrda supported the Association to implement the agro-tourism concept “Agro Stop” and develop promotional videos targeting tourists interested in low-budget travel via “auto-stop/hitch-hiking” with a focus on a specific agro-touristic sites, where tourists can experience such agricultural activities as picking strawberries or berries, visit a bee-farm, participate in cheese-making process or have a meal with a local family. Through this activity we are responding to a growing interest in experiential tourism which has been increasing in popularity over the last few years.

Touching upon the GeoGap certification scheme, its development helped Farmers’ Association to direct their farmers to take important steps towards approximation to international standards. What are specific examples of how the GeoGap certification scheme works for farmers?

GeoGap, or Georgia Good Agricultural Practices Certification System is yet another important initiative of the Farmers’ Association supported by Zrda. The idea is to deliver assistance to agriculture sector actors across the country to improve the quality and competitiveness of Georgian agricultural products.

As such, locally produced agriculture products eventually end up in one of the local restaurants or hotels owned by the Adjara Hotel Group, one of the largest actors of the hospitality industry. As mentioned, the Agronavti application is a “match-making” platform designed to connect farmers to distribution channels across the country. In its turn, the Adjara Group came up with an initiative to substitute imported products with good quality Georgian produce so that to offer dishes made from Georgian products in their food outlets. In this spirit, USAID Zrda Activity has provided technical support to Georgian Farmers’ Association (GFA) to develop crop-specific local GAP standards for Georgia to help aspiring farmers improve quality and move towards harmonization with European norms, while immediately serving as domestic market signal for private sector buyers throughout Georgia, especially in the hospitality sector, that produce is meeting a minimum level of quality and food safety. It’s noteworthy that the first GeoGAP Certification is awarded to Georgian agricultural producer Herbia which 10 years ago was the first Georgian company to receive international EuroGap standard through assistance from USAID. It is the company which still believes that innovations and modern technologies are the future of Georgia’s agriculture. The idea of introducing a GeoGap certification was also supported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia. Today, several high value domestic market farmers have already passed the Geo-Gap certification program and we hope to see more farmers willing to introduce this standard.

In the field of agriculture, what response activities were carried out during the COVID pandemic and what steps were taken to reduce the risk?

COVID19 pandemic revealed yet another problem facing Georgian agricultural producers. As I told you, we encourage farmers to introduce new technologies and modern production techniques, share international experience and best practices throughout the production cycle. At the same time, during pandemic crises the farmers across the country had to struggle with limited storage options and access to basic cold storages. USAID Zrda Activity responded to this challenge and facilitated post-harvest cooling which is essential to delivering produce of the highest possible quality for which year-round demand exists and to create buffer stocks stabilizing food prices for producers and consumers alike. In addition to helping maintain quality, post-harvest cooling also provides marketing flexibility by allowing the grower to sell produce at the most appropriate time. To-date, Zrda facilitated the arrangement of about 50 cold storages. Zrda will continue to promote increased production of high-quality fruits, vegetables, and berries, and further expand its replicable models of micro-cooling facilities and establish more cold storages offering higher returns to growers.

We also funded small dryers to enable farmers produce dried fruit and vegetables. As you know, the price of quality dried fruit/vegetables is quite high in the domestic market. Due to the geographical constraints of the project, our initiatives are only being implemented in our target regions, although I hope similar projects will be implemented in other regions in the future.

As for future plans, what directions should we look forward to for your future projects?

Our project will be completed in one year, but USAID continues to support rural economic growth across Georgia’s regions based on the needs and priorities identified. The United States is a strategic partner of our country, so USAID supports Georgia to build the capacity to finance, plan, and implement its own solutions to development challenges. I hope USAID and other donor organizations will initiate new projects to maximize the impact of partnerships for the sustainable economic development of the country. A good example of such an efficient partnership is our cooperation with bp Georgia. USAID Zrda and bp combined resources to support up to 170 small businesses and implement up to ten economic infrastructure projects across target 41 villages.

We are equally successful in cooperating with the Partnership Fund within the “Startup Georgia” program and together we are implementing the project “Invest in ABL”. Through this partnership, we facilitate investments in the target communities located along the Administrative Boundary Lines with the occupied territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Presently, the construction of 6 enterprises is underway, including a milk processing enterprise, clay ceramic tile production, complex fertilizer production, high quality coal production from hazelnut and walnut shells, Kombucha tea production, and used motor oil processing. I think it is extremely important to facilitate investment in the conflict affected communities so that to create jobs and increase incomes of the vulnerable populations.