At the session of the Parliament of Georgia, Otar Danelia, the Georgian Dream MP, talked about the progress in the field of agriculture. Otar Danelia highlighted particularly the enterprises funded within the framework of agricultural programmes and stated: "Within the framework of agriculture co-funding and grants programmes, new enterprises continuously receive funding. This year four new enterprises were added to the list. In total, there are 158 new enterprises and 6,000 new jobs. More than USD 140 million has been invested in total."

FactCheck

took interest in the accuracy of the statement.

We have already written about the enterprises funded within the framework of agricultural projects (see article 1, article 2 and article 3).

New agricultural enterprises are established within the framework of three projects. These projects are Preferential Agro Credit, Co-funding Enterprises Processing Agricultural Products and Produce in Georgia (one of the components of this programme is providing the funds for agricultural enterprises. The first two projects are being supervised by the Agricultural Projects Management Agency, whilst Produce in Georgia is carried out under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

Table 1: 

Amount of Funding for the Preferential Agro Credit and Produce in Georgia Programmes from the State Budget (GEL million)

	2014	2015	2016	2017
Preferential Agricredit	43	34.5	41	47
Produce in Georgia	2	23	22	42

The Preferential Agro Credit project, together with providing funds for the new enterprises, is involved in enlargement – re-equipment of the old enterprises. In 2013-2016, the following amount of loan was issued within the framework of the aforementioned projects.

Table 2:

The Amount of Loans Issued within the framework of the Preferential Agro Credit Project from 2013 –April 2016

The Amount of Loans	Volume (GEL)	The Amount of Loans	Volume (USD)
24,353	690,662,461	1,812	197,874,322

Source: Agricultural Project Management Agency   Table 3:

Co-funding for Processing and Storage Enterprises (as of May 2016)

Number of Enterprises	Total Value of the Project	Volume of Co-funding
28	USD 18,859,278	USD 6,710,445

Source: Agricultural Project Management Agency  

Since the launch of the projects (2013), carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, 158 new enterprises received funding as of today. Usual profiles of the new enterprises are:  winery, poultry, livestock, greenhouse farms, production storage facilities, hazelnut processing, milk processing etc.

Lately, in the village of Zeda Etseri of Zugdidi district, within the framework United AgroProject state programme, sublimated fruit (dried fruit) factory Gemuan was opened.

USD 851,024 was invested in the enterprise, which produces 22 tonnes of sublimated fruit annually. Thirty people found employment in the enterprise.

Greenhouse farming GEO R Plus which is in line with modern standards, was opened

in Gardabani district. The enterprise produces 80-100 tonnes of vegetables annually and 12 people are employed there. The enterprise is a beneficiary of Preferential Agro Credit programme. In total, USD 78,670 was invested in the greenhouse. Of this amount, USD 52,121 is a preferential agro credit, whilst USD 26,549 is the beneficiary’s own investment.

Modern poultry enterprise – New Georgian Product was established

in Sagarejo municipality. There 10,000 chickens in the poultry farm, which produce 8,000-10,000 eggs per day. There are 14 people employed in the enterprise. In total, USD 100,000 was invested in the poultry farm. Of this amount, USD 70,000 is allocated by Preferential Agro Credit project, whilst USD 30,000 is beneficiary’s own investment.

In regard to volume of investments in the new enterprises and number of jobs they created, according

to the Agricultural Projects Management Agency, USD 139.3 million investments was needed to create 158 new enterprises, whilst 5,637 people got employment in those enterprises. Of this number, 3,773 people have permanent employment, whilst 1,900 have seasonal jobs.

Conclusion

As of May 2017, 158 new enterprises have been funded within the framework of agricultural programmes and USD 139.3 million was invested to this aim. Of note is that of total number of the new jobs in the new enterprises (5,673) 3,773 people have permanent jobs, whilst others’ jobs are seasonal.

As research demonstrated, small and medium-size enterprises have really been opened with the assistance provided by the agricultural projects. However, of note is that during 2012 Parliamentary Elections campaign the leaders of the Georgian Dream have created a high expectation among the populace that 60 new factories (big enterprises) were to be opened

after Georgian Dream’s victory, which would have significantly improved the population’s economic well-being.

FactCheck concludes that Otar Danelia’s statement is MOSTLY TRUE.