AWPA: 2022 is a watershed year for industrial walnut production in Georgia

Raw Walnut

Georgia

Published Nov 10, 2022

Tridge summary

This year, 2022, has become a turning point in Georgia for the industrial production of walnuts. According to the co-founder of the Georgian Almond and Walnut Producers Association (AWPA) Leri Tabatadze, this year's harvest, which, according to preliminary estimates, amounted to 2.5 thousand tons, will allow replacing about 90% of imports in the Georgian market with a domestic product. EastFruit spoke with Leri Tabatadze about current industry trends, challenges and plans for the near future.

Original content

- How did you manage to achieve such a significant indicator for Georgia? “This was the result of increasing production volumes and ensuring good product quality. In recent years, intensive walnut orchards have been actively planted in the country, largely with the support of the “Plant the Future” state program. About 98% of new orchards are 'Chandler'. To date, the total area of these orchards is 5,500 hectares, and some of them have not yet begun to bear fruit. So, from year to year, the production of walnuts will only grow. The infrastructure for the primary processing of walnuts is also quite developed. Currently, there are 6 modern processing enterprises operating in the country, the capacity of which is sufficient to process walnut crops expected in the next five years. — What is the current demand for walnuts in the local market? “Demand is consistently high, and comes from the HoReCa sector, which is gradually recovering from the covid pandemic, and from the retail ...

Source: Eastfruit