Farmers protest against selling land to foreigners

Farmers from the Kakheti region created an initiative group, which prepared a document protesting the selling of Georgian land to foreigners.

Kakhetian farmers claim that the Rose administration has been destructive in regards to Georgian agriculture generally speaking. Since 2010, the situation in the sector has further deteriorated. President Saakashvili’s administration increased the payment for the use of lands, which became very difficult for Georgian farmers afford. As a result, a serious amount of Georgian land has been sold to foreigners because Georgians could not afford it. Currently, more than 11,000 hectares of land was sold in Kakheti, about 900 hectares in Shida Kartli, and up to 700 hectares in Imereti, as well as in Svaneti.

The farmers are calling a national alarm, demanding from the new Georgian government to study the legality of the deals with the foreigners and try to return the lands to Georgian citizens. So far, the new administration has not been doing much in this direction, though selling lands to the foreigners has stopped.