Interest in berries in Georgia has been growing in recent years. Despite overall positive expectations, not all farmers found success. As local sources suggest, Georgian farmers are especially frustrated with the blackberry and raspberry business. EastFruit reports based on Commersant.ge.
Interest in raspberry and blackberry orchards has slowed down. According to the Berry Growers Association, more than 50% of blackberry orchards and 40% of raspberry orchards were removed in 2022.
According to TBC Capital’s review of the berry crop sector, several factors contributed to this: lack of knowledge and experience in the field, miscalculations made by farmers, incorrect expectations of selling price and orchards’ maintenance costs, wrongly selected varieties, and other challenges in the production process.
“Due to a diverse climate and fertile soil, Georgia has favorable conditions for growing different berries. Popular berries in Georgia are strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries.
At the initial stage, berries were produced in small quantities for household consumption. However, in recent years, Georgian farmers got increasingly interested in berry crops. Also, the demand for berries has increased, both on the local and international markets,” the publication notes.
Blueberry production is especially growing compared to other crops. According to preliminary estimates, the export volume of fresh blueberries will reach 3,000 tons by 2023, equaling the 5,000 tons in 2024.
As for strawberries, production has been characterized by large fluctuations over the years and the largest amount of harvest was recorded in 2017 – 2.7 thousand tons. Since 2018, the production of strawberries has decreased compared to previous years, and an average of 1.25 thousand tons is produced annually. The increased demand for strawberries in the local market is met with strawberries imported from Turkey.
For more information: east-fruit.com