The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has donated a full set of portable honey testing analyzer worth of $ 87,250 to the Rural Development Agency for equipping a honey processing plant as part of the project "Creating a Model for Business Oriented Agricultural Cooperatives in Georgia".

The Rural Development Agency is actively cooperating with the Japan International Cooperation Agency in terms of knowledge and experience sharing. "They has devoted a considerable amount of assistance and provided us with modern equipment, which will help to fully manage the process in the honey processing cooperative," - said the director of the Rural Development Agency, Ilia Tamarashvili.

According toMr. Yukiho Ejiri, Permanent Representative of the JICA office in Georgia, the equipment transferred to the Honey Processing Cooperative of the Rural Development Agency will facilitate the development of a second-tier cooperative.

"We continue to cooperate with the Rural Development Agency, expert visits are planned, in order to support the Agency's activities in the development of agricultural cooperatives," said Yukiho Ejiri.

The honey processing plant in the Berbuki village, Gori Municipality was built within the framework of state program "Unified Production Support of Beekeeping Agricultural Cooperatives. The enterprise is equipped with modern standard equipment required for a complete honey production cycle, where it is possible to process at least two tons of honey per day and obtain uniform honey.

Honey processing production infrastructure will be transferred to the ownership of an agricultural cooperative selected through a competition with 30% co-financing.