Kakheti Region, Georgia: from vineyards to desert

Khaketi is an agricultural, wine region in south-east Georgia, bordering Azerbaijan. It consists of 8 administrative districts: Akhmeta, Gurjaani, Dedoplistskaro, Telavi, Lagodekhi, Sagarejo, Signaghi, and Kvareli, with Telavi as the administrative centre.

Limestone is extracted in the Sagarejo district. Oil and gas deposits have also been discovered. Preliminary estimates put the oil reserves at 2-7 million tons. At present, 260 tons of oil is extracted per day.

After the Soviet-influenced “collective” farming, the farmers in the region have strongly moved toward “individual” farming. However, the farming and irrigation systems are run down and damaged, with limited replacements. The USAID Georgian Employment & Information Initiative (GEII) focuses on establishing drip and spray irrigation, as well as rural business development, vegetable production, and farmer group formations (supplies to market).

Signaghi, a small town (population about 2,000) is heavily reliant on wine production and tourism. It has great tourism potential, but the development of this sector is hindered by poor local infrastructure, including the lack of good hotels. The USAID GEII project, as part of rural business development, upgraded guesthouses to meet Georgian Department of Tourism standards.

Udabno is considered to be “remote” even though it is only two hours from Tbilisi because it is the driest region of Georgia - with a dry continental climate, called the David Gareji Desert. By Australian standards, the region is cereal/wheat growing land (and not desert as we know it), however the land is currently under-productive, due to lack of water.

In the Kakheti region – from vineyards to desert, households are mainly engaged in growing wheat (27,000 ha; 36,000 tons), grape (16,000 ha; 65,000 tons), sunflower (17,000 ha; 10,000 tons) and maize (12,000 ha; 27,000 tons). However, Georgia imports 60% of its wheat from Russia, and 35% from Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Hence, there is a lack of locally grown wheat – it is just 5% of the entire consumption of the country (100,000 tons in 2009, but 200,000 tons in a good year). Georgians consume 800,000 tons of wheat per year. This region produces about a third of the country’s yield. During Soviet times, Georgia harvested 300,000-500,000 tons of wheat per year, but now the integrated farming system has been dissolved. Not all land used for wheat farming is productive. The Government of Georgia plans to increase wheat production from 5% to 30-35% by 2012.

Australia is renowned for its dry-land farming, and wheat is our second largest primary product (behind cattle), with 80% exported. While growing, winter wheat requires 200-380mm of rainfall, but can manage a bit less. The Udabno area has an annual rainfall of 400mm per year and only 100mm during the winter wheat growing period. However, other areas in the Kakheti region receive 1,600mm per year.

At Udabno, the David Gareji monasteries were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in October 2007. The David Gareji complex actually has 19 monasteries with about 5,000 “cells” or caves where monks live. It’s an amazing system of architecture built for austerity and isolation.

The main east-west motor road of the region stretches between Tbilisi and the Lagodekhi area. To reach Lagodekhi, we passed through the subtropical Alazani Valley which receives 1,600mm of rainfall, on average, per year. Within just a few hours driving, the regions of Udabno and Lagodekhi are almost complete opposites. While Udabno was treeless, Lagodekhi is quite an oasis. Water is not a problem in the Alazani Valley and in Soviet times there were pipelines to the dry region of Udabno, but these no longer exist.

The Lagodekhi markets were excellent, with a wide variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, cheeses, breads, nuts, and bottled sauces. The Lagodekhi National Park was the first natural reserve opened in Georgia (in 1912). There is a large variety of trees, plants and animals in the reserve. UNESCO has listed Lagodekhi National Park among the monuments and sights of worldwide importance.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).