The President of Georgia toured the test field in the Shindisi Village of the Gori Region, and joined the farmers participating in the Argotour. Mikheil Saakashvili learned about the ongoing technological and working processes and later offered to tour the Kareli Center for farmers in Agara with them. The President spontaneously made this decision and travelled there with them by a bus. The Head of State also offered the local citizens he met on the way to go and tour the center with him. On the way, Mikheil Saakashvili expressed interest in their problems. The Head of State ordered the heads of relevant government bodies to deal with the problems of the local population.
Mikheil Saakashvili toured the Kareli Service Centers with farmers. The President stated that this center aims at making agricultural equipment and pesticides accessible for everyone to ease the work for the farmers on their land. As the Head of State noted, everything is being done for the people to use.
“There should not be unused land in Georgia. In this sense Georgia was the most lagging country. But now, around Gori, in Kareli and Kaspi land is being worked on…we were talking on the bus about using pesticides, and the majority of the population in Gori prefer pesticides from Uzbekistan. However, it would be much better if many of them came here and listened to your advice. Most of them do not know that they can come here and consult with you regarding pesticides and equipment and also get a soil analysis very inexpensively. They will learn all of this in several years, because we have very clever people. This is happening now as there was nothing happening for decades. This is why we should adopt modern irrigation systems everywhere. The private sector has done this in several places, but we should do this in every village because there are ground waters everywhere.” – stated the President of Georgia.
The President of Georgia also touched on the ongoing processes in the education sphere and mentioned the changes that are being implemented in this direction.
“The ongoing changes in the education sphere are also important. We are giving every excelling student computers and I think 60% of students will have computers in 2 years time. We are going to have a very good change next year – acceptance at universities will be dependent on high school exams and the prospective students will not need tutors anymore. It is true that there was no corruption during exams, but the main problem remained that many still needed tutors. Those who had money and were privileged had an advantage. Now everyone living in your village will be able to study at school and learn everything that is needed for the exams there. Next year, we are going to have scholarships so that people living in villages will, for example, have a chance to rent apartments in Tbilisi. This is very important” – noted the President of Georgia.
The Kareli Service Center for farmers is serving 3 regions – Kareli, Khashuri and Gori. It also has an agronomy expert, which farmers can consult. 5 types of laboratory services are also available at the center. The newly-opened center employs 26 local residents.