Political Harvest – 2009

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

The grape harvest already is underway in the Kakheti region. In many villages of the region the estimated level of sugar has exceeded 21 percent   However, the peasants cannot harvest yet. Village councilors are not very keen on issuing notifications on which factories should accept grapes. Those people who do not support the government have problems while getting the notifications. Farmers are in the most difficult situation. Factories do not accept the grapes of the farmers who do not own a vineyard of more than 10 hectares. Policemen from the Sighnaghi, Gurjaani, Kvareli and Telavi districts work in an emergency regime. The Constitutional Security Department also monitors the ongoing grape harvest. They have been ordered to control the farmers.

This year, a grape harvest of about 140 000 tones is expected in the Kakheti region. The harvest started early and has already finished in the villages of Samtatskaro, Sabatlo and Pirosmani in the Dedoplistskaro district close to River Alazani. The peasants sold one kilo of Saperavi (the famous Georgian black wine is produced from it) for 40 tetri (approx. 0.2 Euro) to the Tsnori Winery in the Sighnaghi district. Transportation of the grape to the factory from the villages on the bank of Alazani River was so expensive that most peasants could not recoup the expenses they had made during the entire season.

Tamaz Sakanelashvili, a resident of Samtatskaro: “Residents of our village used to sell the grapes to the vinery in Keda village but since the winery went bankrupt we have to transport our harvest to different districts. Samtatskaro is located close to the Georgian-Azerbaijan border and it is very expensive to transport the harvest from here. Consequently, having covered all expenses we have nothing left. Some people managed to pay the debt for the chemicals they had bought during the entire year to poison the vines. But some people could not cover those debts either.”

Elguja Tartarashvili, resident of Samtatskaro: “I have a one-hectare vineyard. This year we had a harvest of 4 tones of Saperavi. For that I was paid 2 600 GEL (approx. 1, 300 Euro) including subsidies. Not to mention the hard work of my family members and of mine we profited only 300 GEL (approx. 150 Euro) from this harvest. I have spent more than 2 000 GEL during the year on this harvest, I paid 180 GEL to the driver of the truck to take grapes to the factory in Tsnori.”

Winery in the village of Keda in the Dedoplistskaro district went bankrupt in 2006. Based on a court decision the property of the factory shall be sold in parts.

“In 2004 the government promised assistance to the winery and compelled it to purchase grapes for 1.5 million GEL. However, the government did not assist the winery and we tried to cover the debts to the peasants from our own budget; unfortunately, since the debt was huge, we could not pay all of the debt,” said Ilia Tushishvili, former director and owner of the winery. He added that according to the law, after the winery is sold the debt first shall be paid to the banks. However, the property is not worth enough to pay debts to the peasants too.”

Peasants should get their money also for the grapes they had sold in 2007. The court ordered Alazani Veli and Company Ltd immediately to pay the debt to the peasants; however nothing yet has been done. In 2008, peasants managed to get their money for the grapes after the Financial Police became actively involved the case.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 16 wineries in the region are ready to accept grapes. The price of one kilo Saperavi is from 35 to 40 tetri according to the level of sugar. In addition to that the government pays 25 tetri for one kilo of Saperavi as a subsidy and an additional 15 tetri for one kilo of Rkatsiteli. The government has allocated 24 million GEL from the state budget for the subsidies.

Minister Bakur Kvezereli stated that the harvest is going on successfully. Peasants and farmers, however, claim the opposite. Peasants cannot sell grapes without special notifications which are issued by the village councilor after the district governor gives permission. The regional governor’s administration has made a special schedule and the notifications are issued according to this schedule.

The notification contains information about the location of the vineyard, the name of the owner, the space of the plot and the amount of the harvest. The Gurjaani district governor Giorgi Chiviashvili said that the Kakheti regional governor ordered the district governors to regulate the harvest process in the following way. According to the regulations after the peasant gets the notification, he shall inform the village council about the exact date of the harvest and the winery where he is going to deliver the grapes. The Village councilors tell them when to start the harvest, and which winery to apply to.

Giorgi Ruadze, a resident of the village of Chumlaki in Gurjaani district: “I applied to the village councilor four times to get the notification but he did not give it. He said they had already issued notifications for the next week. However, the councilors give notifications to their relatives and people close to them without those people having to wait their turn but people without protectors have to wait. Besides that, why should we wait for the notification, the grape is my property, I have looked after it and when I want I should harvest it.”

Avto Zardiashvili, resident of Gurjaani village: “I was told at the village council that they had already issued notifications for the next 5 days and I must come next week. People are standing in the queue during the nights in the building of the village council. The District governor made a statement on TV and said that those who have not received the notification can start the harvest, but in this case we will not responsible for selling their grapes. My neighbor started the harvest without the notification and he was visiting different wineries during three days; everybody was busy and nobody accepted his grapes. We visited the Vintage HQ in the region but they were having dinner and did not meet us.”

Vintage Coordinating HQ was opened several days ago in the building of the hotel-restaurant “Rebi Gurjaani”.

Kakheti Regional Governor Giorgi Ghviniashvili said they had introduced these rules to avoid chaos. “Last year the harvest was successful but there were some problems about queues and now we have resolved this problem. Our regulation rules will resolve the problem of endless queues at the wineries,” said Ghviniashvili.

According to the non-governmental organization Human Rights Centre village councilors make more problems for those people who do not support the government. “We were informed about several similar facts. We got interested in it and after studying the situation we concluded that officials persecuted peasants on political grounds. We applied to the officials of the local authority and requested them to stop persecution,” said Nino Andriashvili, a lawyer of the human rights organization.

Farmers, who have vineyards of more than 10 hectares, face even more problems. Before peasants finish their harvest, farmers are not allowed to harvest their vineyards. Farmers from Gurjaani stated they were warned from the Kakheti regional governor’s administration about it. They added that unless the order is obeyed, the process is controlled by the officers of the Kakheti regional department of the CSD. “Before law enforcement bodies started to observe the harvest, some farmers managed to split their vineyards and registered it to several people. However, when law enforcement bodies learned about it, they warned the farmers very strictly,” said the farmers.

Giorgi Ghviniashvili, Kakheti regional governor: “Nobody prohibits the farmers from harvesting the grapes; those who can manufacture grape himself why should we assist?! when peasants finish farmers can sell their grape to the wineries  if the wineries accept it. However, the government does not pay subsidies for the grape of the farmers.”

One more problem about the harvest is that none of the factories purchase hybrid grapes.

Bakur Kvezereli does not clarify which winery will purchase hybrid grapes; though he claims peasants will manage to sell them. Giorgi Ghviniashvili promises his assistance to peasants too but he cannot say where, when and for what price peasants will sell hybrid grape.

This year, Gurjaani district expects about 3 000 tones of hybrid grapes. Last year, peasants managed to sell hybrid grapes – Vakirula, Shanidze and grapes which do not need chemicals – for 15 tetri to Kvareli winery. The government does not pay subsidies for such grape.