Farmer Niko Nikoladze deeply believes Georgia should not continue subsidizing non-standard apples in its current form. His comments follow the government’s decision to reinstate the program, which was discontinued earlier this year after a decade of operation. Under an October 8 decree, the state will again provide a subsidy of GEL 0.10 per kilogram, with GEL 4.5 million allocated for the program.
Nikoladze argues that the subsidy discourages farmers from replacing old orchards or switching to more productive land use, as they can earn money from low-quality harvests without investing in improvements. He says the program has encouraged some orchard owners to leave neglected trees in place and collect fallen apples for processing rather than develop modern orchards.
In his view, the program should have been phased out gradually or targeted at specific beneficiaries. He added that the existing approach undermines the government’s other agricultural support initiatives, which encourage the establishment of modern orchards. “I don’t consider maintaining this type of subsidy appropriate, at least not in the form it has existed until now,” Nikoladze said.
Nikoladze operates a modern apple orchard covering 150 hectares in Kaspi Municipality. Commenting on the government’s updated agricultural support programs, he said they still need improvement, although the Rural Development Agency has been receptive to feedback. According to agency data, from 2014 to 2025, processors purchased 309.9 million kilograms of non-standard apples worth GEL 74.1 million, while 24 processing companies received a total of GEL 28 million in subsidies.
