The new rural economic development programme, which is a joint initiative of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danish MFA) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), will focus on the 2 southern regions of Georgia, i.e. Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli. These areas are leading agricultural regions in Georgia, but are suffering from high levels of poverty. Livestock farming and potato growing were identified for the present Programme because of their potential profitability and capacity for further growth.

The support provided by the programme focuses on two strategic areas:

(I) Advice and guidance on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the production, processing and marketing of potatoes and dairy products; and

(II) provision of investment capital on the basis of a matching grant scheme aimed at encouraging investments into production facilities that contribute to the development of selected value chains. The programme is conceived to be implemented during an operational phase lasting four years. Programme implementation is scheduled to start in May 2012 with a 4 month inception period for conducting necessary research and to update the programme support document, inter alia with thematic content, an activity plan, a monitoring system and a detailed budget.