The President of Georgia toured the Zestafoni Service Center for farmers today and inspected the existing labs. Mikheil Saakashvili also met with the farmers who are participating in Agrotour and learning about the new technical and lab opportunities the center offers. The Head of State also spoke about the issues that are extremely important or problematic for them. The President focused attention on the importance of such centers and stated that it is especially important for farmers to learn new technologies and contribute to the development of the agricultural sector. The President stated that it is also important that the farmers have an opportunity to consult agronomy experts without having to leave their region.

“We need new technologies and new breeds, but people do not have the means to replace them. This is why we need to make them interested, make technology cheaper for them, teach them – because knowledge is most important. Some think that only the people working at factories need knowledge, but everyone in the modern world who is working with land needs knowledge. We know how poor people are especially in places with not much land. For example, people have small agricultural land in Imereti and they live in very meager conditions.  We will find something to do with the small land, but it would be nice if we could do something about their food shortage problems. This is very important.” – stated the President of Georgia while talking with them.

The Zestaponi Service Center for farmers is serving 7 regions – Zestaponi, Terjola, Bagdati, Kharagauli, Tkibuli, Tchiatura, and Sachkhere. The newly opened center employs 24 local specialists. There are also soil analysis, food disease research, animal care, seed quality, and pesticide laboratories on site.