Leri Tabatadze, the founder of Almond & Walnut Producer Association, says that there is no demand for almonds in the Georgian market. As he explains, there are two main reasons: the lack of a culture of almond consumption and the problems of its processing.
"There is no demand for almonds in the domestic market, because we don't have a culture of consuming them yet. Also, there are no almond plants that can process this product. This is necessary to get quality products. A quality product is important for exports. We also need certification to enter European markets and export our products.
State support in this direction is fundamentally important, because going to these exhibitions is quite expensive. We are still a young sector and we do not have such channels. The involvement of the state in this part is quite important to find our focus markets", said Leri Tabatadze.
According to the association, this year the farmers harvested about 600 thousand tons of almonds and the same amount of walnuts, but the sale problem arose only in the case of almonds.
