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GEORGIA 2024. Smallholder Farmer

12 September 2024. Samegrelo, Georgia. A woman smallholder farmer stands in her newly-harvested maize field.

Although Nino has worked as a dairy farmer for 30 years, she still gained new knowledge from the FAO Farmer Field School, which she hosted in her home for 30 women farmers.

09/12/2024

Country or Territory Georgia

File size 1.50 MB

Unique ID UF196YF

Editorial use only. Photo credit must be given. For further information contact: Photo-Library@fao.org

Background Information

For Nino Kavtaradze, the income which she makes using her skills and decades of experience producing dried fruits, jams and distinctive Georgian cheeses has literally meant the difference between sickness and health.

Nearly 20 years ago, she explains, “I was diagnosed with a severe disease – cancer,” Nino says. “The sales of dried fruits and tklapi [sheets of dried fruit puree which roll up like leather] was one of the key income sources which supported my health, covering my medical fees.”

She spent years undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy. All the while, she says that she concentrated on running her home-based business in the country’s northwestern mountains to keep her mind busy on the day-to-day.

This focus and honing her expertise allowed her to play a key role as a Lead Farmer in a project which aims to improve the resilience and economic empowerment of smallholder women dairy farmers.

That came about when she met a fellow cheese producer who was running a Farmer Field School, as part of an initiative implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. She asked Nino if she would be interested in doing the same - and if so, could she find 15 women to take part?

The determination that had helped her overcome cancer kicked in and she did more than that. Nino found 30 local women dairy farmers who were interested in participating in the FAO Farmer Field School, where farmers learn from each other, with the technical guidance of FAO food technologists, agronomists and veterinarians. The school covers a range of subjects from food safety, animal care and vaccinations to the production of new types of dairy and processed fruit and vegetables, as well as business management and gender equality.