The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture met with the farmers benefiting from the program “Co-financing program for agricultural machinery in mountainous settlements” in the village of Speti, Sachkhere municipality.

Otar Shamugia emphasized the importance of meetings with local farmers, noting that state initiatives meet the requirements of farmers and that the topics raised in the meetings are taken into account.

“Access to agricultural machinery is one of the crucial issues for farmers to perform the appropriate measures in agro-terms. Therefore, we have been providing large-scale support for the renewal of agricultural machinery over the years. Moreover, the state has enabled farmers to acquire more than 7,000 different types of equipment through support programs. This year, we launched a new program for the residents of the highland settlement. Thus, farmers will receive hand tractors- moto blocks, with a rather high 70% co-financing under the mentioned initiative. Over 5,000 people will benefit from the state assistance this year.

Notably, the applications have already been submitted to the Rural Development Agency. All relevant applications - duly filled out and submitted will be satisfied once the procedural evaluation is completed”, - said Otar Shamugia.

During the meeting, the farmers expressed their satisfaction with the new program, noting that due to queues, renting tractors and tilling the land required time and considerable costs, while purchasing hand tractors was a great relief for them.

As of June 17, 2024, more than 1147 applications for the “Co-financing of agricultural machinery in mountainous settlements” program have received positive responses, including 308 applicants from Imereti and 166 from the Sachkhere municipality. The application review process is still in progress.