Surrounded with the mountainous terrain, in the Jvari village of the Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti region, Nino Kavtaradze is experimenting with local food production to create “Ninoian” (“Ninoseuli”, in Georgian) innovative products. “Ninoseuli” is, in fact, the name of her brand.  Nino is a Lead Farmer under a project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the UN Women, which aims at offering educational opportunities for smallholder women dairy farmers in improving their resilience and economic empowerment.

Nino regularly hosts approximately 30 women farmers in her home, where they learn about food safety, the production of new types of dairy and processed fruit and vegetable products, business management, gender equality and women’s rights.

Nino, in her home, has been producing dried fruits, jams, Tklapi, Megrelian Churchkhela, Sulguni and Imeretian cheese for many years. She has been selling these products on the local market. In fact, she has been ensuring her family’s financial wellbeing by doing so. Thanks to her artisanal food products, Nino was able to purchase the medication to battle the oncological disease, which she survived. 

“I was diagnosed with a severe disease – cancer,” Nino says, “my husband and family stood by my side and the sales of dried fruits and Tklapi, was one of the key income sources, which supported my health, covering my medical fees. Afterwards my children’s higher education tuition fees were added on top of these expenditures.”

During the past years, Nino invigorated her dried fruit and cheese production. Along with traditional Sulguni cheese, she now also produces different types of cheese, such as Caciotta with dried figs, but also new products such as sweet spicy pepper jams, while also diversifying her dried fruit varieties. She learned the production of these food items from the FAO team.

As an active producer, Nino frequently takes part in various exhibitions. During one of such events, she saw and tasted for the first time the cheese varieties that were then new for her. Standing right next to her, these products were exhibited by Shorena Shonia – another Lead Farmer of an FAO Farmer Field School.

“This is where I met Shorena, because we got to stand behind the same stall,” she recalls, ”I got interested in her cheeses because they were different. Her products had a different visual appearance and taste, compared to our traditional Sulguni and Imeretian cheeses.”

Nino also witnessed the existing demand for these products and got interested in producing them. Shorena got her in touch with the FAO team soon afterwards.

“Shorena called me,” says Nino, “she told me that FAO was looking for a Lead Farmer to establish a Farmer Field School and that I had to invite 15 women.”

She did just that. Nino found 30 local dairy women farmers who were interested in participating in the FAO Farmer Field School, which is a platform where farmers learn from each other, with the technical guidance of FAO food technologists, agronomists and veterinarians. After establishing the educational platform, Nino, together with the school participants, on basic aspects on animal care, milk and dairy production, hygiene and modern food safety practices.

“Even though I have been involved in dairy farming for the past 30 years, I acquired fundamentally important knowledge through the training series,” Nino remarks, “I found out that I did not know many things about the full cycle of dairy production, which I am now knowledgeable about.”

Nino now utilizes the newly acquired knowledge and skills in her daily work. She has improved animal feeding, milking and deworming practices. The basic equipment provided to her by FAO have come in handy in implementing these practices too, supporting her in improving safe production and competitiveness. Nino is especially happy with the mill, which FAO provided her with as part of the project. This equipment helps her in decreasing the costs on animal feed.

“This was my big dream,” Nino says, “we will not have to buy corn, since we have corn fields, and I will somehow manage to purchase wheat and barley. When we grind the grains, feeding our livestock will not be as costly and our profits will increase.”

Beyond the mill and animal care items, through the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, FAO also provided Nino with small dairy production equipment.

With this inventory, she combined the knowledge gained through the training series with her own experience and now offers “Ninoian” interpretation of innovative cheese varieties.

“I wanted my cheeses to stand out,” Nino highlights, “this is why I added dried fruits to my products and started creating cheese with dried figs, plums and kiwi.”

Additionally, as part of the FAO Farmer Field Schools, Nino hosted a pilot training series, during which farmers improved their skills in processing and conserving fruits and vegetables. With the obtained knowledge, Nino decided to make sweet jams with spicy peppers. The “Ninoian” experiment was a success. FAO provided Nino with some equipment for producing dried fruits and jams as well, to support her in improving her production further.

Nino brought her cheeses and pepper jams to various exhibitions, and the consumers have shown a great interest in these new products.

"The pepper jam and cheese go well with each other,” says Nino as she recalls her experience at the Unique Georgian Taste agromarkets, which FAO organizes in Tbilisi and other cities in Georgia through the support of the European Union and Sweden, to support the producers of niche and terroir products.

“At first, they were surprised inquiring about how it was possible for the jam to be made from spicy peppers,” Nino points out, “after tasting it, they would tell me that spiciness turns into sweetness. Once they tried it with cheese, they liked it and this is how I sold cheese in greater quantities, while those who bought the pepper jam once, returned to buy more.”

Within the framework of the project, FAO also supported Nino in establishing connections with the HoReCa and retail sectors. She, along with other Lead Farmers, was able to bring her products to the tasting events attended by the representatives of restaurants and shops in Batumi, which helped her in creating new business relationships.

Nino also points out that the production of new cheese varieties, participation in the Unique Georgian Taste agromarkets, and the meetings with the HoReCa and retail sector representatives have been impactful. “The number of customers have increased,” she says, “everyone is interested in the taste of my cheeses and when I share photos of those with my dried fruits on social media, there always is interest toward them."

Nino is one of the 30 Lead Farmers from the Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti region, who hosted the Farmer Field Schools in their homes, within the framework of the project that was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and implemented by FAO, in partnership with the UN Women. In this format, more than 600 dairy women famers gained knowledge about dairy production and good hygiene practices. They also learned about the production of 10 cheese varieties, such as Caciotta and Halloumi. Many of them have started producing these cheeses commercially.

“When a person sets a goal,” says Nino, “they must try their best to achieve it. I did not give up for a single second or think about dying when I had cancer. I am here now because I battled my way through with work, determination, and motivation.”    

With this attitude, Nino, as an exemplary woman farmer, continues producing unique, “Ninoian” products for the Georgian market, which are becoming more popular every day.