Beyond a decorative metal fence is a green garden, small maize field, and a brick-coloured house. A traditional wooden Megrelian oda, sits on top of it, with Georgian ornaments carved out on the balcony overlooking the forests of the Chkorotsku mountains. Here, in the Napichkhou village, in the Western part of Georgia, lives a veterinarian and FAO Lead Farmer Nato Darsalia. With the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), an FAO Farmer Field School has been established in her house. In this format, women dairy farmers from the village learn about the full dairy production cycle, food safety, and the production of innovative cheese varieties from FAO experts.

“Animal husbandry is our family heritage”, says Nato, sitting between a wooden cupboard from her ancestors and a vintage table. “This has been the source of income for us for generations,” she emphasizes. Veterinary work, animal husbandry and dairy production constitute the main fields of Nato’s expertise. Moreover, she, together with her family members, takes care of hazelnut orchards and maize fields.

Healthy Animal, Safe Food Products

For Nato – an experienced veterinarian, food safety starts with a healthy animal. “I prioritize timely deworming and vaccination so that me and my farm can be in safe hands. This way, you get rid of zoonotic diseases and other risk factors”, she says. As she talks about the consumption of safe food products, Nato emphasizes that “if we are eating healthy food, we will be healthy ourselves”.

In her opinion, producing nutritious, the production of safe dairy and meat products is only possible with healthy animals. When it comes to animal health, she is always ready to help: she gives advice to farmers, sometimes strictly, to vaccinate livestock, take care of skin diseases and parasites and follow good hygienic practices.

However, due to the lack of income, Nato was planning to give up on being a veterinarian and a dairy farmer to start doing something else. This is when she got to know the FAO experts and lead famers from Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, who are involved in the SDC-supported project.

The path of a lead farmer

“I probably would have started doing something else, if FAO did not come around, says Nato. Initially, as a student, she attended a Farmer Field School, which was established by another FAO Lead Farmer, Venera Lipartia in a village of Senaki Municipality. Nato remembers that, for her, since the beginning of the trainings, “each word, each letter, each sentence, told of a better tomorrow.” After attending two sessions, she spread the word in her village about the FAO training programme and took several women farmers to Senaki with her.

She also invited FAO experts to Napichkhou, where livestock is the main source of income for the local population. And the rest is history. Nato created another Farmer Field School, became the FAO Lead Farmer, and gathered a group of motivated women around her.

Now, as a Lead Farmer, she her neighbors in advancing their production. As a result of her proactive approach, all 24 participants of Nato’s Farmer Field School have now considerably improved their dairy production.

“Wash and dry the udder before milking and do not leave any milk in the it,” Nato always reminds the students who visit her house. “They have California Mastitis Test Kits as well” she says about the Farmer Field School attendants and adds that “they take care of the animal’s skin, deparasite it, and ask me about what to use for such processes, as well as which vaccine they should use. They are happy.”

“I want our Farmer Field School to be exemplary and, like a swallow helps her chicks fly, I would like to help our students fly high” states Nato loudly as she smiles with her hand confidently raised up high.

New Cheese, New Opportunities

In a large room with wooden walls, Nato places her white and brown Sulguni cheeses on a vintage table with a tablecloth filled with flowery ornaments. Next to them, she lays out different variations of semi-hard aged cheese and Kashkaval, the production methodology of which is quite innovative for Georgia. She learned making these types of dairy products at the FAO Farmer Field School and now shares this knowledge with her neighbors.   

“Everyone sells Sulguni and Imeretian cheese,” Nato says and points out that guests and customers are especially interested with her new cheese varieties. She thinks that these new products that she produces are “more in demand and nutritious.” She started regularly consuming the innovative cheese varieties herself as well. “It leaves a great taste in my mouth,” Nato says about her favorite cheese for grilling, dressed in spices.

Through the support of SDC and FAO, her product is already sold in Georgian boutique shops in Batumi. Moreover, with an aim of establishing new connections with consumers and the private sector, Nato has taken part in the “Unique Georgian Taste” farmers’ market organized by FAO, through the support of the European Union.

She is not planning to stop because she has many ideas. “I do not sleep at night sometimes and write down everything that I want to do,” Nato says.

Advice from the Experienced Woman Dairy Farmer

Nato has a lot of advice to give, especially to women dairy farmers. First of all, she believes that women should stay in Georgia and conduct business locally, which is better for them and the country. According to her, “If we produce natural products ourselves, we will not have to spend money on such goods.”

She also recommends farmers to “make everything in accordance with the veterinary law to produce goods with healthy animals.” For this, Nato thinks, every village should have veterinarians and agronomists – people who know the “meaning behind soil and animals.”

About Farmer Field Schools

Since 2020, FAO has established 30 Farmer Field Schools in Samegrelo Zemo-Svaneti. The series of activities are being implemented through the support of the SDC and in partnership with the UN Women.

Through Farmer Field Schools, more than 400 women dairy farmers have learned about modern methods for improving small-scale dairy production. Food safety and innovative cheese production techniques are also integral parts of the training programme, which is implemented in the Farmer Field Schools.

Importantly, through the support of the SDC, FAO supports these women dairy farmers in selling their goods in boutique shops. Already, eight Lead Farmers are selling their cheese varieties in such retail facilities.

“Over the last two years, having the opportunity to work with women farmers is an extremely rewarding experience for us. I have witnessed so many brightened-up faces of women who rediscover their capacities for innovation and bravery and succeed in growing professionally, while making new connections with customers and businesses. Many of our Lead Farmers did not produce cheese commercially at all and now their unique, delicious dairy products are all over Georgia. We are now working to establish even more Farmer Field Schools in the region, thus sharing knowledge with even more women dairy farmers”, says Salome Gigashvili, the FAO Dairy and Food Safety Specialist.

“The Farmer Field Schools, which we have established through the support of SDC, have shown us that sharing knowledge and basic but important technical trainings supports women farmers in making big steps, producing more, better and more sustainably, and generating more income for their families. But this project transcends its economic impact, which is very significant. After witnessing how proud the project beneficiaries feel when they see that their cheeses sold in Tbilisi or Batumi, we can then talk about inclusiveness of rural women, about being proud of the cheeses they produced for generations, about positive ways to reduce rural poverty, about building modern Georgia, while leaving no one behind. Sometimes rural women, neglected for so long, only need an opportunity, and we are providing it for hundreds of women farmers so they can make humble but important steps towards a better future,” says Javier Sanz Alvarez, FAO Programme Coordinator.

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Through the financial support of the SDC and in partnership with the UN Women, FAO has established 30 Farmer Field Schools in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region with an aim of empowering dairy women farmers. In this format, training sessions are held on all aspects of dairy production cycle, as well as the creation of innovative cheese varieties. Additionally, FAO is supporting the dairy women farmers from the region in accessing the market and establishing connections between them and the private sector.