Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, David Songhulashvili, along with Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti State Representative David Verava and Rural Development Agency Director Giorgi Darchia, visited the village of Ingiri in Zugdidi Municipality to inspect the ongoing operations at the hazelnut processing enterprise of Jima Nuts.

Established in 2020 under the Rural Development Agency’s Preferential Agrocredit program, Jima Nuts invested over 2 million GEL in the enterprise, which employs 35 people and has the capacity to process 1,500 tons of uncracked hazelnuts. With financial support from the agency’s technical assistance program, the enterprise implemented the international food safety standard BRC. Since 2022, it has been exporting products primarily to Asian and African markets.

Through the Preferential Agrocredit program, over 80 million GEL in loans have been issued across Georgia for hazelnut storage and processing, with the Rural Development Agency providing more than 24 million GEL in co-financing. In the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region alone, loans worth 54.6 million GEL have been issued, with the agency’s co-financing exceeding 16.7 million GEL.