The nut business in Uzbekistan has been attracting a lot of investment in recent years, as the country has excellent conditions for growing a wide range of nut crops. EastFruit analysts have prepared a review of prices for the main nuts grown in Uzbekistan, and compared them to last year prices.

First of all, we note that pistachios of local production remain the most expensive nut in Uzbekistan. It is a wild plant that belongs to forest products in Uzbekistan. These pistachios are smaller in size than the cultivated ones, but the country has been trying to establish the industrial cultivation of these expensive nuts for several years, and announces very ambitious plans in this area.

Inshell hazelnuts in Uzbekistan are the second most expensive nut. Moreover, they cost much more than in Georgia or even in Russia. Wholesale hazelnuts in Uzbekistan can be 3 times more expensive than in Georgia, and they could also be grown there. However, so far there are no initiatives to grow hazelnuts in Uzbekistan.

Inshell almonds in Uzbekistan are not as expensive as in other countries, but they also differ in quality. There are local almonds, but there are almost no industrial fruit-bearing almond orchards in the country. As for walnuts, it is the most affordable type of nuts. In this segment, Uzbekistan has started laying industrial orchards, mainly of the Chandler variety.

How have prices for nuts changed in Uzbekistan over the year?

As you see in the chart below, prices for nuts have changed significantly over the year. Moreover, two types of nuts fell sharply in price, while the other two, on the contrary, rose sharply.

It should also be noted that wholesale prices for nuts in Uzbekistan change contrary to the global trends. First of all, walnut prices have decreased by one third, while, on the contrary, global walnut prices are at a record high now. Obviously, there is an issue with the quality and consolidation of walnut volumes for export, although Uzbekistan is among the world leaders in the export of walnuts.

The price of pistachios has risen by almost a third, but this is in line with global trends. The pistachio harvest in 2021 should have been low in the US and Turkey, as pistachio is known for its intermittent fruiting. However, a drought in California exacerbated the problem (see how pistachios are grown in the US here).

Iran, where a good harvest was expected, also did not have it due to weather anomalies. But the demand for pistachio in the world continued to grow. By the way, Uzbekistan has also increased its imports of pistachios in recent years, buying up to 1 000 tonnes, mainly from Iran.

The 35% decrease in the price of almonds compared to last year is contrary to global trends. Globally, almond prices have risen substantially from a very low level of last year. The main reason is the sharp decline in the almond harvest in California due to drought and water shortages (see how almonds are grown and processed in the USA here). Uzbekistan does not import almonds and actively sells them abroad.

The decrease in hazelnut price in Uzbekistan by 20% per year corresponds to the trends of the global market. The hazelnut harvest in the region has increased significantly this year having led to lower prices. Uzbekistan usually imports hazelnuts from Georgia and Azerbaijan. And in these countries, hazelnut prices decreased in the 2021/22 season.

We also note that prices for the main nuts in the Uzbek market have remained relatively stable in recent weeks. However, some changes can be expected in the near future, given the trends described in the article.

Сообщение An overview of prices for walnuts, pistachios, almonds and hazelnuts in Uzbekistan появились сначала на EastFruit.

Georgian exports of edible fruits, nuts and vegetables (07 & 08 in harmonized system) reached record high value in 2021. EastFruit’s analysts found that major contributing factor to this success was unusually high demand from Russia.

Data source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

After a drop in 2017 caused by brown marmorated stink bug invasion reducing hazelnut production – a key export commodity, Georgian exports of fruits, nuts and vegetables in 2021 have risen to the highest value observed – $229 million. Exports to Russia have also increased to an unprecedented $90 million, three times higher than 2014-2020 average.

Data source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

The hazelnut exports have been recovering since the marmorated stink bug invasion, but they are still about two times lower than in 2016 (before the invasion). While hazelnut exports in 2021 have been hampered by unfavorable weather and crisis in Turkey (major producer of hazelnuts), Georgia’s record high export revenues from selling fruits, nuts and vegetables in 2021 were mostly achieved through increased exports of other products rather than hazelnuts.

Compared to 2016, inshell hazelnut exports have reduced by $77 million. The gap in exports was mainly covered by mandarins (+ $9 million compared to 2016), nectarines (+ $16 million), potatoes (+ $14 million), peaches (+ $10 million), apples (+ $8 million), blueberries (+ $6 million) and persimmons (+ $4 million).

Key destination for the products other than hazelnuts, which are usually exported to Europe, was Russia. Total exports of these positions have increased by $86 million compared to 2016, and Russia’s share in them was 76%.

Thus, the success of 2021 came mostly from a strong demand from Russia, which is a result of bad weather conditions in Russia reducing local supply and driving the prices up. As the neighbor market wanted to stabilize the prices, it turned to importing, and bought almost everything in large volumes.

Сообщение Georgia’s revenue from exports of fruits, vegetables and nuts in 2021 was record high! появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit analysts draw attention to the most important factor of recent weeks for the fruit and vegetable business in the region – sharp jumps in the exchange rate of the Turkish currency – lira.

Since the beginning of 2021, the Turkish lira exchange rate has more than halved. Moreover, the exchange rate collapsed the most in the last three weeks. Following the collapse of the exchange rate, a sharp rise in the value of the currency started quite often, as the Turkish government tried to stop the rapid devaluation in every possible way.

Naturally, a decrease in the exchange rate of any country stimulates exports, while strengthening, on the contrary, worsens the position of the country’s goods in foreign markets. Thus, Turkish vegetables and fruits are now becoming more competitive in foreign markets. In this regard, EastFruit analysts decided to examine the structure and geography of Turkey’s fruit and vegetable exports in order to show how and who will be most affected by the situation in Turkey.

First of all, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and food and agricultural products generally, are not the most important export commodities of Turkey. Only nuts are among the 25 largest export commodities. Nevertheless, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, as well as dried fruits and frozen fruits and vegetables brought Turkey $5.7 billion in export earnings by the end of 2020.

For comparison, Uzbekistan exported 8 times less fruits and vegetables, and Ukraine and Moldova – about 20 times less than Turkey. Turkey ranks 8th in the global ranking of exporters of fruit and vegetable products, not far behind Italy and Chile. By the end of 2021, it may well rise to the 6th position among the world’s largest exporters.

Turkey is also a quite large importer of fruits and vegetables, annually purchasing fruits and vegetables worth about $1 billion abroad. Accordingly, the devaluation of the lira will make imports more expensive, meaning that we can expect a decrease in Turkey’s purchases of fruits, vegetables and nuts abroad.

What are the main markets for Turkey? Where will the pressure of Turkish goods be most noticeable and which of the goods will Turkey begin to purchase in smaller volumes?

Russia is the main buyer of Turkish fruit and vegetables. Turkey supplies up to 18% of all its products to Russia. Accordingly, the pressure on the Russian market will be most noticeable. Germany, Italy, Iraq, Great Britain and France are next, and Ukraine is the 7th among the most important sales markets.

Therefore, Turkish products will become more actively sold to Ukraine and will compete with Ukrainian ones in the markets of the EU countries. However, we are talking only about a few positions, and we will tell you further about product markets to be affected by the devaluation of the Turkish lira.

The main export commodity of the Turkish fruit and vegetable group is hazelnuts. This is bad news for Georgia, as Turkish hazelnuts will become even more affordable at a fairly high quality. And this season Georgia is already forced to export hazelnuts at very low prices. This could further increase the pressure on the prices of Georgian hazelnuts in the EU countries.

Raisins are the second most important Turkish export product. However, Turkey has almost no influence on the markets important for our region, as it supplies raisins mainly to the EU.

Mandarins are the third most important export commodity. This also poses threat to Georgia experiencing problems with the quality of mandarins this year, as in the case of hazelnuts. Accordingly, cheaper and better quality Turkish mandarins will create competition for mandarin suppliers from Georgia. Even bans on the import of mandarins to Russia from several Turkish exporters will not significantly affect the situation. On the other hand, cheap Turkish mandarins are good for consumers in Ukraine and Russia, but they may indirectly reduce the demand for apples there, which is bad news for the region’s farmers.

Greenhouse tomatoes are the next most important goods among Turkish fruit and vegetable exports. Of course, the key importing countries are Russia and Ukraine. In this regard, local greenhouses will have a hard time, because Turkish products will be sold cheaper. By the way, the devaluation of the Turkish lira is one of the main reasons why a high increase in prices for greenhouse vegetables never happened in these northern countries. After all, given the high prices for gas and other energy resources, there were fears that the prices for greenhouse tomatoes would skyrocket to unprecedented levels.

Apple is the category of Turkish exports that also has a direct impact on the regional and global apple market. We wrote more about the influence of Turkey in the #freshapplecrisis article. The devaluation of lira is bad news for our farmers, as Turkish apples are becoming more affordable. This will have the greatest negative impact on Moldova, and, to a lesser extent, on Ukraine.

The influence on many of Turkey’s other export positions will be much smaller, minimal, or seasonal. For example, Turkey is the most important player in the stone fruit market: cherries, apricots, peaches, etc. However, the new export season for these crops starts later, so it is too early to draw conclusions about the impact of devaluation on these segments.

Note that the devaluation of the lira will affect not only exports, but also Turkey’s huge fruit and vegetable imports.

The main import commodity that will impact the markets of our region is inshell walnuts. Ukraine and Uzbekistan will be directly affected by the devaluation, since they are among the major suppliers of inshell walnuts to Turkey. However, their positions have already lowered when they did not receive import preferences and had to pay import duties on nuts.

Turkey is also a major hub for the re-export of dried fruits. Some of them are imported by Turkey from Uzbekistan and other countries of Central Asia. However, since the business is re-export, the devaluation of the lira will not impact it greatly.

Devaluation in Turkey has been accompanied by rising inflation. This means that the incomes of the country’s population will decline. Respectively, we can expect a decrease in domestic consumption as a whole in the category of expensive products.

The instability in Turkey will have a large impact on the regional fruit and vegetable market. This factor may become dominant for importers from Eastern Europe for the entire winter and spring periods.

Сообщение How will the collapse of the Turkish Lira affect the vegetable, fruit and nut markets in Eastern Europe and Central Asia? появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit invites all nut growers of Ukraine to follow an interesting presentation at the 17th International Conference “Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2021” on December 2-3, 2021 in Kyiv. The presentation is titled “Economically viable investments in the nut business of Ukraine: walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds based on the long-term experience of Georgia. Global Nut Trends”. It will be presented by an expert with extensive experience in the international nut business – Kateryna Poberezhna.

Kateryna and her husband have established a super-intensive almond orchard in Georgia, which is the first of its kind in the region. In addition, she heads the California-based company Super Almond, which provides technological support for modern nut, including almond, orchards with both Super High Density (SHD) and traditional systems around the world. They engage the best American consultants in these projects – the United States is almost a monopoly on the global market for almonds and the world’s largest exporter of walnuts and pistachios.

The experience of the nut business of Kateryna Poberezhna is not limited to the technologies of growing and processing almonds – she is an international consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), heads the Georgian division of the EastFruit platform and has been supervising professional monitoring of the global market for all types of nuts, primarily walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios for several years. Therefore, she has access to unique information and at many international conferences she talks about global trends and the most important elements for making a successful investment in the nut business.

Kateryna thoroughly knows the global market of hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds, thanks to her visits to orchards in Georgia and other countries. Since Kateryna was born and raised in Ukraine, but now lives in Georgia, she closely monitors the markets of both countries. Her presentation will be based on global trends and experience of Georgia, but in the context of Ukraine, which Kateryna is well aware of. In addition to Ukraine and Georgia, she closely monitors the nut markets of other countries that are part of the EastFruit project: Moldova, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. A lot of interesting things are noted there too!

It will be very useful for nut growers of Ukraine to hear Kateryna’s presentation and get to know her personally. You can register for participation in the conference at this link.

Сообщение The global and Georgian experience in the hazelnut, almond and walnut business to be presented in Ukraine появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to 2021 October’s official trade data from the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, Georgian hazelnut export volume was the largest for the last five years’ Octobers. So far, the export volume this season is the highest since 2014. While the new harvest’s hazelnut exports are rising in Georgian official trade data, rejection numbers at EU borders, which cannot be covered by this data, are also on the rise.

Data source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

Exports in October amounted to approximately 3,300 tons on kernel basis. This is 9% more than October 2020, and 20% higher than October average of last 7 years’. Seasonal reduction of exports is underway, yet total export volume this season is quite high. From August including October, Georgia has exported 9,150 tons of hazelnuts in 2021. Such high volume for these months has not been observed since 2014. Unusual Italian demand for the in-shell hazelnuts remains as the driving factor for the overall growth in total export volume. Meantime, shelled hazelnut exports have reduced by 8% compared to the same period of 2020.

Interestingly, in-shell hazelnut export prices are quite good. Average export price in October 2021 amounted to USD 3,000 per ton, which is 7-30% higher than October price in the four previous years. On the other hand the kernel prices have dropped to USD 5,800, which is a 2% reduction compared to October 2020.

Sadly, the quality of the nuts is not acceptable. According to RASFF portal, in just three months of the new hazelnut season, Georgia already has 19 rejections at EU borders. Out of this, 8 rejections happened in October. For comparison, the total number of rejections for 2020 season, from August 2020 to August 2021 was 13. Thus, the export volumes and prices look good in the official data, but this is not the whole story, as border rejections are piling up.

Georgia’s top exporting destinations, volumes and export prices for October 2021 can be seen below:

Data source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

Сообщение Hazelnuts exports from Georgia: Official trade data looks good but is not reflecting the whole picture появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit analysts record four times as many refusals to accept Georgian hazelnuts at EU borders compared to the 2020 hazelnut harvest. Since August 2021, which marked the start of the hazelnut season in Georgia, the European Commission has published 17 border refusals regarding the import of hazelnuts from Georgia. During the same period of the previous season, there were only 4 refusals from August to October. All refusals in the past two months have been associated with high aflatoxin levels.

Producers confirm that the quality of Georgian hazelnuts of the new harvest is much lower than expected. This is mainly due to heavy rainfall during the harvest season and to a lesser extent the brown marmorated stink bug issue, which has not yet been fully resolved. Apart from the undesirable decline of local production, the developments in international trade are not encouraging.

Production in Turkey accounting for about 75% of the world’s hazelnuts is going through tough times. Prices are falling, which affects the global hazelnut market and the Georgian one. Mintec Global reported low activity of European buyers at the end of September due to concerns over a rain-damaged crop in Turkey and a weakening lira. Right now, the Turkish lira is at an all-time low against the US dollar. Hazelnut prices are declining in dollar terms due to pressure on the exchange rate. Turkish growers want the TMO (Turkish Grain Board) to buy more hazelnuts as prices on the free market are lower.

Low prices in Turkey reduce prices for Georgian producers as well. In an interview with Kommersant, the head of the Georgian Hazelnut Producers Association, Giorgi Todua, notes that it is very difficult to compete with Turkish prices, especially this season when the quality of Georgian hazelnuts has deteriorated.

As a result of both local and global hazelnut market conditions, Georgian growers receive the lowest prices in at least the last four years:

Could this situation have been avoided? Of course, Georgia cannot control the Turkish market, but it has room to develop. If modern drying and storage technologies were widely used by Georgian growers, rain during harvest that was a key factor affecting quality would be a much less serious problem.

Сообщение Georgian hazelnut prices plummet to four-year low появились сначала на EastFruit.

September was a successful month for Georgian hazelnut exporters, due to unusual demand on in-shell hazelnuts from Italy.

Last month, Georgian hazelnut exports, both kernel and in-shell, amounted USD 24.5 million. This is 23% more than in September 2020, which was deemed to be a good year given the recovery from the brown marmorated stink bug invasion. Total export volumes on kernel basis have increased by 22%, from 3.4 million kilograms to 4.2.

This improvement is caused by the unprecedented surge in in-shell hazelnut exports. Usually Georgia earns more from hazelnut kernels than from hazelnuts in shell. For example, in last 3 years, both kernel export value and volume are about 11 times higher than those in-shell exports.

Without the increase in in-shell hazelnut exports, or in other words, if there was no year-on-year growth compared to September 2020, total hazelnut export value in September 2021 would be 1% lower compared to the same period a year before.

Source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

According to Georgian exporters, there is a strong demand on in-shell hazelnuts from Italy. This is linked with the supply shortage on Italian market, which did not have a good local harvest this year. In-shell hazelnuts are destined for processing sector, so there is no very strict demand on the walnuts quality. Thus, this is a temporary opportunity for Georgian growers. As a result, export prices for in-shell hazelnuts is higher by 7% compared to September 2020.

In-shell hazelnut exports in September 2021 amounted to USD 6.1 million, or 2.3 million kilograms (in-shell basis). Export value is 400% more than year before, while volume has increased by 367%.

Source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

Interestingly, we are seeing a slight reduction in kernel basis exports. Both volume and value are down by 2% compared to September last year, and there is no change in export prices. This reduction is caused by two factors: initially delayed harvesting due to rains, and producers waiting for a better moment to sell their top quality hazelnuts.

Overall, exports during the first two months of the new season are better than in the previous seson. Revenue from hazelnut exports reached USD 32.7 million, which is an increase of 16%.

Сообщение Higher exports of Georgian hazelnuts compared to last season появились сначала на EastFruit.

Around 80% of hazelnuts in Georgia have already been harvested, although the harvest is still ongoing. The process was slowed down by rains in western Georgia earlier, but the weather was fine last week in the Samegrelo region, western Georgia, allowing growers to continue harvesting. At the same time, rainy weather is expected again in the coming days.

The situation is different in the Guria region, Western Georgia, where the weather is unstable after a heavy rain on September 3. Today growers are mainly selling low-quality hazelnuts that they cannot store and expect sales of high-quality hazelnuts to start later when prices are higher, processors said.

According to representatives of hazelnut processing companies, the moisture content of currently supplied hazelnuts is usually 10-20%. Kernels become dry and suitable for storage at a moisture content of about 6%. The rainy weather partly affected the quality of the hazelnuts, they said, because they remained in the orchards until the rain stopped. Hazelnuts should dry out after rain in the orchard before harvesting. Labor shortages were an additional obstacle to the harvest.

“The fact that growers are now selling wet and lower quality grade hazelnuts does not mean that our overall harvest is of poor quality. Usually, growers store high quality hazelnuts in order to sell them later at a better price. Although the rains did slow down the harvesting and drying of hazelnuts this year. Currently, hazelnut prices range from 3 to 7 GEL/kg ($0.96–2.25 per kg) depending on moisture content and quality. Our company will start exporting hazelnuts in September, when the process of drying and storing hazelnuts will be completed. We expect a stable season this year, but growers should dry hazelnuts correctly so as not to spoil the quality,” Mamuka Beriashvili, founder of the hazelnut processing company Nuts.ge, said in an interview with EastFruit.

Read also: Slower start for Georgian hazelnut exports in the new season

Temur Gogia, founder of the Georgian Hazelnut Corporation, a hazelnut processing plant in Lanchkhuti, Guria, also hopes that growers will start selling good-quality hazelnuts later in the season. The moisture content of the core has increased from 16% two weeks ago to 20% now, due to the rains and high humidity in the region, he said. Gogia believes that marble bugs have also influenced the quality of hazelnuts this year. He considers it important to constantly fight this insect, despite the success achieved by Georgia over the past three years.

Another factor that adversely affects the season mentioned by Gogia is the small hazelnut sourcing businesses in the region.

“Small processors cannot check quality in the laboratory. The quality assessment and pricing are done in accordance with the rules they have created. As a result, growers lose the motivation to produce high-quality hazelnuts. The price we pay for hazelnuts depends on the results of laboratory tests. Many growers bring us their product, but we are interested in buying high-quality hazelnuts to meet the requirements of our European partners,” Gogia said.

A high harvest of hazelnuts is expected in Georgia this year. In August, the exports of a new harvest began, which amounted to 1,085 tons of kernels and 781 tons of inshell nuts thus far.

Сообщение Georgia harvested around 80% of hazelnuts so far – rainly weather is a problem появились сначала на EastFruit.

After a successful harvest of hazelnuts in Georgia last year, the current season started somewhat slower. Thus, a slight decrease in the exports of Georgian hazelnuts at the beginning of the 2021/2022 season. Associated with heavy rains, which led to delays in harvest and therefore exports.

At the same time, rather high volumes of exports of in-shell hazelnuts are observed – in August 781 tons, which is about 10 times more than the average for the same period of 2014-2020. Hazelnut growers note strong demand from Italian exporters.

In total, in August of this year, Georgia exported 1,085 tons of hazelnut kernels, which is 16% less than in the same period a year earlier. As EastFruit predicted, prices fell from  6,140 USD per tonne in August 2020 to  5,780 USD in August 2021.

Total revenues from the exports of hazelnuts, both shelled and in shell, reached $ 8.1 million, just 1% less than in August last year.

Сообщение Slower start for Georgian hazelnut exports in the new season появились сначала на EastFruit.

Lack of labor in Georgia’s agricultural sector worries many farmers during the harvesting season. In an interview with EastFruit farmers said that large farmers are more likely to find the workers they need than small ones but hiring seasonal workers has become more expensive this year for all. Some growers see mechanized harvesting as a solution to this problem.

Farmers cited working-age immigration as the main reason for labor shortages. According to official statistics, the rural population in Georgia has decreased by 8% over the past 10 years. Local residents prefer to travel to other countries in search of seasonal work, as they expect higher salaries and stable jobs.

Farmers report a 15-29% increase in daily wages for pickers in 2021 compared to 2020. In particular, in the Kakheti region, the daily wage has increased from 30-35 GEL last year to 35-45 GEL ($ 11-14) this season. Salaries have also increased in the Samegrelo region, where the hazelnut harvesting season is at its peak. At the beginning of the season, the daily wage in Samegrelo was 35 GEL, but now some farmers are paying 50 GEL ($ 16) as the demand for labor has increased at a peak. Lack of labor was also a problem for berry growers, who have already completed their main season this year.

Read also: The harvest of hazelnuts in Georgia is hampered by a labor shortage

Since harvesting is the most labor-intensive process in a farm, mechanization may be a solution for some growers. In orchards where harvesting is still done manually, stone fruit, apple and berry producers (other than blueberries) are less likely to mechanize harvesting in the near future. Most likely, large growers of hazelnuts and blueberries will invest in harvesting machines in Georgia.

One of the farmers looking to invest in a harvester is the hazelnut grower Tengiz Dolidze from the Samegrelo region. He is an average farmer with a 20-hectare orchard but believes that even with a medium-sized production, it is worth investing in a harvester.

“The price of a hazelnut harvester depends on its specifics and country of production. There are Italian machines costing 7-10 thousand euros on the market. On a smaller budget, you can buy Turkish ones. These harvesters can replace 35 workers a day and last 15-20 years. Considering my seasonal labor costs, investing in a harvester is financially worthwhile. I will definitely buy it next season.” Dolidze said.

Dolidze has a 5-year-old hazelnut orchard with two more years left until full maturity. Now he needs 20 workers for two weeks to harvest. He pays 50 GEL per day for each employee. Dolidze explained that labor costs will increase in the coming seasons as the orchards mature.

According to Otar Sherozia, head of the Farmers’ Union, which brings together 18 commercial hazelnut growers in Georgia with a total of 1,960 hectares of orchards, almost a third of their members are already using or about to invest in a harvester. Otar Sherozia himself has a 50-hectare walnut orchard, planted 5 years ago. He is considering buying a harvester in two years, when the farm is fully productive.

“I saw how combine harvesters work in Georgia, and the results are good. But before using them, growers must prepare the orchard for it. For the machine to work properly, the surface must be level. It can take a while to prepare it, so they shouldn’t expect just buying a harvester to be enough” he said.

In addition to hazelnut growers, Georgia’s largest blueberry farm, GeorgianBlue, is also set to test the harvester next season. The company owns 35 hectares of blueberry orchards and plans to further expand production. In an interview with EastFruit, a representative of the company, Rati Morchiladze, explained that this season has shown them the inevitability of a shortage of labor. With the company’s plans to expand and increase harvests each year, it will be nearly impossible for them to mobilize the required number of pickers in the near future as they will need to hire hundreds of people in a short period of time.

“Starting next year, we plan to test a combine harvester in some areas of our farm. Despite the hilly landscape, about half of the orchards can be harvested by machines. We hope to harvest high quality blueberries that will be acceptable to the fresh market, but first we need to test how it will work with the varieties we have. Last year we planted 4 hectares of new orchards with various varieties suitable for machine harvesting,” Morchiladze said.

Mechanized harvesting is only one component of farm mechanization. Many growers in Georgia have already mechanized other orchard operations to hire less workers. For example, many apple and stone fruit orchards in Georgia mechanized watering, fertilization and post-pruning branch management, but harvesting and pruning are still manual operations.

Сообщение Mechanical harvesting is becoming a reality in Georgian orchards появились сначала на EastFruit.