Story about cooperative “Samegobro 2014”
Agricultural cooperative “Samegobro 2014” is located in a beautiful gorge between Nabeghlavi and Bakhmaro, Chkhakaura village which is home to trout fishermen. Chkhakaura, high up in the mountains 1000m from the sea level, is mostly populated by the Adjarias. The village has a natural resource of spring water, which is environmentally clean and has the favorable conditions for trout farming – high inminerals and oxygen level as well as advantageous temperature regime.
The group members have been involved in trout farming with joint efforts for years together with their families. In 2014 they registered as a cooperative and have united their properties. All five members of the cooperative are presented with their resources.
The head of the cooperative Otar Giorgadze and other members –Mamuka Qatamadze, David Iremadze, Enver and Zaur Giorgadze are producing more than 10 tons of fish due to the fact that they have joint their efforts and the lands in their ownership.
Cooperative “Samegobro 2014” also produces high quality roe and fry for local needs as well as for sales. The resources are profitable as the fish production can be increased up to 20-25 tons in next 2 years. The cooperative decided to use the grant from ENPARD for enlarging their business: 3 tanks, enclosing of the land under the cooperative, additional water supply system, establishment of roe and fry farming, road repair and purchasing of pick-up type car for the transportation of their products are the activities they received funding for.
Financial resources demanded from Care International for above-listed activities amounted to 71 680 GEL. The financial output from the cooperative’s side is 17920 GEL and their non-monetary share is 50 350 GEL, which is the value of the property of the cooperative. Nowadays there are 7 people working on the premises of the cooperative and their umber will increase in line with the success of the cooperative.
ENPARD has interviewed the head of the cooperative, Mr. Otar Giorgadze:
Mr. Giorgadze how did you come up with the idea of registering a cooperative?
“Wewereinformedthrough ENPARD programme aboutcooperativesandwelikedtheideaverymuch. Before that, we were cooperating as neighbors and friends but with the help of ENPARD we decided to register a cooperative. The problem was that we could not develop our business. There was a demand on the market as we produce ecologically clean product. ENPARD also helped us in communications: We got a lot of useful information through the programme and a lot of people got the information about us through it as well.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you talk about the success of the cooperative?
Thefactthatourproductionhas doubled andsoonitwillbetripled– this is an indicator for success. It would not have been possible without ENPARD support.
Do you face any problems in sales?
At the moment we do not face any problems in sales as our products are of the hightest quality; thus there is no threat that we won’t have clients. As we are supported by ENPARD, there is a huge trust among our clients that our products are up to the best standards. ENPARD experts support us a lot and we are becoming stable producers.
What is the most important factor in your business?
Everything is based on the spring water. It never gets muddy and is always clean and transparent thus we get ecologically clean products.
Essential for the success of the cooperative is a production of high quality products. I would recommend to Georgian farmers to produce healthy products and use the benefits of cooperatives.
Right now I am busy with writing a business plan as we would like to create a possibility of agri tourism. I have already built several cottages and am enthusiastic about this direction. 2 years ago we had several Bulgarian tourists and I intend to foster the development of agri tourism on our premises.