Minister of Agriculture Otar Danelia said 800,000 small farmers will benefit from GEL 60 million allocated to agricultural activity support and the agriculture card scheme in 2015. GEL 140 per hectare is to be allocated to plowing.

This will bring the 3 year support program for small farmers to an end, said Danelia, adding that 400,000 hectares have been cultivated through the program.

In the meantime, the Minister envisages a taxation scheme to encourage sowing of uncultivated land, currently totaling some 350,000 ha. The taxation scheme, used effectively in many European countries, lowers taxes for cultivated agricultural land while increasing taxes for uncultivated agricultural land, according to Danelia. The taxation scheme does not apply to farmers with land up smaller than 5 hectares, he added.

Source - http://sarke.com