With technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia has approved the "Strategy for Sustainable Development of Aquaculture in Georgia 2024-2028.” The document was developed with the financial support of the European Union (EU) and Sweden and under the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) IV, with the active participation of international experts and stakeholders. Along with various activities, assessment reports, overviews and research papers were produced to develop a functional strategy for the complex aquaculture sector.

Objective

The approved document analyses the Georgian aquaculture sector's strengths, challenges, and potential. Considering the national and international market potential, the strategy’s main objective is to advance the production capacity to at least meet the national-level demand and increase the current annual production at least five times (Sustainable Development Strategy of Georgian Aquaculture 2024-2028). The United Nations Global Goals fuel the national aquaculture strategy's goal, vision, and mission, strategic EU documents, and the vision developed based on the EU Green Deal. Hence, the path for the development of the industry is formulated in line with the international principles of food safety, as well as environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

Key stakeholders

The development of the aquaculture industry benefits Georgian consumers, local communities, and, obviously, the agriculture industry, considerably impacting the country’s economy.

Improved and increased production will make the aquaculture sector more competitive in Georgian and international markets. To achieve this form of advancement, the private sector's involvement and the coordinated operations of state institutions will be fundamental.

What the strategy implies

The Georgian aquaculture strategy revolves around four key directions: the regularisation process, the utilisation of spatial analysis in aquaculture management, environmental protection tools, and aquatic animal health and food safety.

Regularisation entails developing a legislative and administrative system at governmental and policy levels, supporting the creation of an effective administrative structure. As a result, while implementing the aquaculture strategy, regularising new and existing actors in the sector will become possible through licensing.

Spatial planning of marine and continental zones is one of the most important directions for aquaculture's structured and sustainable development. To modify this sector aspect, the strategic document aims to adopt the Allowed Zones for Aquaculture (AZA) and Aquaculture Management Areas (AMA), both tools recognised in the EU and globally.

The national strategy's environmental aspect plans to ensure a balance between aquaculture and the environment, which will also result in the industry's economically and socially sustainable functionality.

Improving aquatic animal health and food safety is emphasised in the document as one of the most important factors for aquaculture development. The strategy implies advancing sanitary standards and creating an aquatic animal health action plan for the aquaculture industry. Educational opportunities, monitoring and diagnostic services, improving the capacities to take measures for ensuring biosecurity and tackling diseases, and access to veterinary medication are highlighted as integral parts of the plan.

“Aquaculture holds an important place in Georgia’s rich agricultural heritage, and its further development will only increase the opportunity to showcase it on the national and international levels. The aquaculture strategy outlines the way forward to achieve this, and is aligned, notably for the marine component, with the strategy for the sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), internationally mandated for the sustainable management of the aquatic resources of the Black Sea. We have no doubt that  the key stakeholders outlined in the document will play their parts, ensuring the achievement of its overarching objective,” says Denis Reiss, Programme Officer for Sustainable Food Systems at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.

“The aquaculture strategy of Georgia is a new guide to develop the country’s agriculture industry and it certainly has the potential to become a cornerstone for improved competitiveness of the aquaculture sector, better access to safer aquatic products on the market, and more export opportunities.  Under the EU and Sweden-funded ENPARD IV, over the past years, FAO has implemented numerous activities geared towards the development of the strategy. I am delighted that FAO’s planned training modules and other support packages for aquaculture producers will now be fully aligned with the approved strategy,” says Guido Agostinucci, FAO Programme Manager.

“With the approval of the strategy, the country has made yet another step toward developing aquaculture, which is an integral part of the agriculture industry. A document of fundamental importance for generating new opportunities and realising the potential of the Georgian agriculture industry has been approved as a result of the tireless work of our team, consultations with stakeholders, training opportunities, partnerships with international experts and other activities. We hopes that we will soon witness the results of the implementation of the strategy with improved products on the market, newly generated jobs and more competitive aquaculture industry,” says Jumber Maruashvili, the FAO Senior National Policy Advisor. 

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 About the European Union 

For more than 30 years, the European Union has built a close partnership with Georgia, supporting its development through knowledge and experience sharing, expertise, innovation and financial support. The relationship between the EU and Georgia is based on shared values of peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and inclusive economic growth. More about the EU’s support in Georgia https://eu4georgia.eu/the-european-union-in-georgia/ 

About the project

The European Union supports rural development in Georgia through its ENPARD Programme. Aiming to reduce rural poverty, ENPARD has been implemented since 2013. The Programme started by supporting the development of national agriculture potential. Subsequently, it also concentrated on creating economic opportunities for rural populations in Georgia. Since 2021, the Programme has also been working on improving food safety in the country, with additional support from Sweden and with FAO and the Czech Development Agency as the main implementers of this food safety component under ENPARD IV.