It is an important day today, as we are fulfilling the promise which we gave to the population in villages and regions.
We had promised our citizens that we would bring hundreds of tractors into Georgia this year and that this number would go up to thousands during the year.
Given the very long and difficult winter that we had, and the spring works that started late everywhere; given the increased prices on oil in the world and certainly, this has primarily affected our citizens employed in the field of agriculture. If the agricultural centers, tractors, additional measures for fertilizer supplies that provide for cheaper imports will be concentrated (and we are in fact working in this direction) then despite the increased prices on oil, we will in the end manage to cultivate our land more cost effectively. I am repeating this once again at a time when we have done everything for the preparation of this process.
Our goal is to cultivate more land this year than what we used to cultivate since the restoration of independence.
This means that lot more families should obtain the sources of income;
This means that we should have agricultural products produced in Georgia sold in our stores and not foreign products, especially when we have exempted the local agricultural products from the VAT;
This means that given the boost in tourism, we will be able to satisfy our needs and that Georgian products will be sold in our cafes, streets, supermarkets and agro-markets, which will be quite competitive;
This means that we will be able to export as well, as increasingly more products are already being exported from Georgia. In previous years Georgian products had been almost entirely replaced, even in the local markets, by imported products of very low quality.
This is what all of us have started together and will take to the end together – It is the modernization of agriculture.
Our plan is to double the agricultural output in the coming years. Thus, it means more people will find jobs, more recycling factories will be opened, and more families will have higher incomes.
We are starting today to cultivate the land where it has never been cultivated before and it is only the beginning. Despite it being late, we can accelerate the pace.
The weather should not alter our schedule and we need to complete the cultivation of the land by all means.
We will start these tractors today and send them to help our villages.