The Government of Georgia approved the State Program “Access to State Owned Pastures”
The program was developed to optimize the utilization of and improve access to pastures registered as state property within the territory of Georgia. The program is administered by the National Agency for Sustainable Land Management and Land Use Monitoring, under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia.
The area of natural meadows and pastures in Georgia is approximately 1.8 million hectares, with around 500,000 hectares affected by erosion. The grassland ecosystem and its vegetation cover are severely damaged due to extensive livestock grazing, increased grazing density, and irrational pasture utilization. Consequently, unsystematic grazing diminishes the grass cover on the soil surface. Such irrational exploitation of pastures and subsequent degradation of grass cover result in changes to soil structure.
Within the framework of the new program "Access to State-Owned Pastures," there is a plan to improve accessibility and promote the establishment of legitimate private responsibility for the maintenance and utilization of pastures. This initiative aims to encourage the rational use of pastures across 3,219 parcels of land categorized as state-owned pastures in Georgia, totaling 89,905 hectares. This effort serves as a fundamental prerequisite for enhancing the quality of livestock development and fostering both quantitative and qualitative advancements in local product yields
A natural or legal person, including an agricultural cooperative and partnership, is eligible to participate in the program if they have selected a specific pasture for leasing and, at the time of application submission, possess a sufficient number of cattle and/or small livestock to effectively utilize the leased pasture. For each head of cattle, the required pasture area is not less than 1 hectare and not more than 1.5 hectares, while for small livestock, the required area is not less than 0.2 hectares and not more than 0.5 hectares.
The project aims to detect and register unregistered pasture land plots by processing applications submitted by interested entities, thereby incorporating them into the program. Additionally, the program will identify agricultural land plots that are registered without corresponding categories.
Within the program framework, state-owned pastures are allocated through auctions with a lease term of three years. Pastures located on state-owned lands, as defined by the Law of Georgia "On Subsoil," are leased for a period of one year, unless an alternative period is agreed upon with the license holder.
