Merab Chitanava, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Hazelnut Producers Association, declares that state support for the hazelnut sector should continue after 2026, though not in its current format. He said this on BMGTV’s program “Tsertili”, commenting on the government’s decision to cancel the hazelnut subsidy program.
The subsidy program, implemented between 2023 and 2025, provided small farmers with 500 GEL per hectare to purchase agrochemicals, with about 70 million GEL spent from the state budget. Chitanava noted that the program played an important role during the financial difficulties faced by farmers after poor harvests and low prices in 2021–2022.
However, he stressed that the program’s effectiveness declined over time, mainly due to decreasing farmer participation and lower use of allocated funds. For this reason, the association did not request its continuation this year. According to Chitanava, the key indicator of success should be farmer engagement and awareness, not only yield or quality.
Chitanava believes state support should be redesigned to ensure more efficient use of resources, especially given competition with subsidized producers in Turkey and Azerbaijan. He also emphasized the importance of supporting large hazelnut farms and addressing sector challenges such as access to affordable working capital loans.
