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24GEORGIA
Charita Jashi is a Professor in the Business and Economic Faculty at Tbilisi State University (TSU). She is the founder of the Gender Study Institute at TSU and Head of the Caucasus Development Group. She is currently engaged in the elaboration of national policy and strategic documents for gender mainstreaming in Georgia, under the frameworks of EDPRP and the SDGs. She also works as a programme manager and expert with UNDP, UNECE, OSCE/ODHIR, OSGF, World Bank, EBRD and Oxfam. Charita specialises in the macro and micro linkages of gender and economics, social marketing, poverty reduction, social protection and gender budgeting. She is the author of 85 scientific and policy papers, 3 manuals and 4 monographs.
CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER EQUALITY IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR OF
GEORGIA
Georgia is a low middle income, traditional, agricultural country, which has undergone a series of successful political and economic reforms. New and forthcoming business regulations, due to be introduced because of Georgia's European Integration-related reform agenda, do not set any legislative limits on women's engagement in economic activities. However, women can find it difficult to develop their economic potential, find and maintain employment and run or start a business. The problem becomes more pronounced in rural areas. Research and surveys carried out with different rural women's groups have demonstrated unfavourable conditions for women in local labour markets. Women are also less likely than men to be landowners. Women typically own smaller plots of land compared with men and are more likely to be contributing family workers. Women tend to engage in agricultural production for family consumption, which negatively affects their earning capacity, whereas men tend to engage in the production of cash crops. Due to the double burden of work, insufficient social infrastructure and a lack of professional education, women's socio-economic status has currently significantly declined.1
Georgia has good climatic and natural conditions conducive to the development of agriculture. However, within the past decades, Georgian agriculture and food production has been lagging far behind other sectors of the economy. Georgia used to be an important supplier of agricultural products within the Soviet Union. Agricultural exports exceeded imports by 70 percent.2 However, the share of agriculture in total GDP has significantly declined from 12.8 percent in 2006 to 9.3 percent in 2013, although it increased slightly in 2014. Agricultural production accounts for 45 percent of rural household income, and subsistence agriculture accounts for 73 percent of rural employment.3
According to the new Census of Georgia, the total population is 3 729 500 people. In rural areas there are 1 589 100 people, and 52 percent of the rural population are women.4 Georgia's strong economic growth in the period 2004 to 2012 has not been accompanied by a significant reduction in rural poverty, partly because the growth was centred on financial services, information technology, mining and construction. The majority of people employed in these sectors are men. Women are mostly involved in less profitable sectors of the economy, for example, agriculture and social services industries.
1 Khitarishvili, 2015; Jashi, 2004.
2 EU & FAO, 2012.
3 World Bank, 2015.
4 National Statistics Office of Georgia, 2015a.
Since 2003, and in spite of the new transfers of land into private ownership, the condition of agriculture has not improved significantly and real production has diminished. Georgia is dependent on the importing of agricultural products, and as a result, the index of food self-sufficiency in the country remains very low (about 90 percent of the necessary wheat is imported).5 Many factors have contributed to the reduction of agricultural productivity in the country including: the fragmentation of land; a lack of knowledge about management and marketing skills; the absence of modern machinery; poor connectivity to markets; low investment; and high interest rates from banks. The new government has prioritized the development of the agricultural sector.6 2013 was a favourable year for agricultural production: good natural conditions, alongside strengthened support from the state, resulted in agricultural output growth of 12.9 percent year on year. During the period 2007 to 2013, the average annual growth rate of agricultural output was 5.9 percent.7
There are approximately 640 302 households in rural Georgia. These are generally owned and managed by men. According to official statistics, men are the heads of 69 percent of farms and women represent 31 percent of farm owners. Households headed by men have higher incomes. The average salary of women in the agricultural sector is 27 percent lower than the average salary of men.8 Women and men also tend to engage in different activities within agriculture, with most women engaged in lower paid work. Women are responsible for the majority of day-to-day agricultural activities including field work (for example, the bulk of the work collecting the harvest), milking cows, the processing of food, housekeeping and budget management / small sales.9 Moreover, women are more isolated than men from ongoing economic reforms, because they are distanced from information flows, financial resources, adequate property and equality in the labour market.
Georgia's agricultural crisis has led to a decrease in village population size. The migration rate is higher in rural areas due to the difficulties of finding a job. It is worth noting that a large proportion of the rural employed population are self-employed farmers. This is the reason why unemployment is lower in rural than in urban areas (the difference reaches approximately 20 percent). The unemployment rate for women is 10.4 percent and 14 percent for men.10 Farms led by women are four times smaller than those led by men, and accordingly, the income of the former is lower than that of the latter. In reality, women lead agribusinesses more effectively and this is supported by official data which shows that, on average, the income per employee in farms run by women is 1.5 GEL higher than in farms run by men.11 The small farming sector in Georgia faces many challenges including: a poor economic base; low productivity; and a lack of access to the inputs, knowledge and capacities that farmers need to build profitable farming businesses. Additionally, rural women in Georgia are not actively involved in decision-making processes. In every region in Georgia, there is a lack of participation by women in the local community, despite women having a decisive role in the household and in subsistence farming. Women remain significantly under-represented in local assemblies, accounting for only 10 percent of seats in the local Councils of Georgian Regions.12 Women also have very little involvement in areas of the value chain that are outside of the household.
Most of the population in rural areas is dependent on social protection. The social protection system is not sufficiently developed to support various social groups out of poverty by creating guaranteed and stable living conditions for them. The authorities have mainly implemented passive social policy, which is limited to maintaining the standard of living of the unemployed and poor. The state pension introduced by the government is disbursed when citizens reach retirement age (65 years of age for men; 60 years of age for women), have a disability or experience the loss of the breadwinner. From a gender perspective, it would be expedient to develop pension schemes which incorporate the time spent by women on raising children in the total number of years worked, and through reform of the social security system, ensure participation in private pension schemes. Unfortunately, this aspect has not been discussed at government level.
The amount received in a pension is significantly lower than the subsistence level. All types of pensions are regarded as benefits (allowance of the state budget), and there is minimal difference between the social pension (for example, disability and survivors) and old-age pension. In addition,
5 National Statistics Office of Georgia, 2015b.
6 The European Initiative - Liberal Academy Tbilisi, 2012.
7 Bluashvili & Sukhanskaya, 2015.
8 FAO, 2015.
9 CARE &GeoWel, 2013.
10 National Statistics Office of Georgia, 2015a.
11 EU & FAO, 2012.
12 National Statistics Office of Georgia, 2015a.
it does not take into account a person's pension contribution across her / his working life or the duration, quality and type of the activities. New amendments to the Labour Code of Georgia in 2013 have slightly improved employed women's situation in relation to taking maternity leave in pregnancy, childbirth or child adoption. Furthermore, the universal healthcare programme includes more beneficiaries and covers a wider proportion of the population. At present, about 3 100 000 people are involved in the Universal Healthcare Programme and 530 000 have private or corporate health insurance policies. The state health insurance packages for maternal and child health are very important for rural women. The rural population is highly dependent on subsistence agriculture and public transfers from the State Budget. Many experts hold the view that the costs of this type of social protection are a heavy burden for the budget.13 Despite different attitudes within the population, the Universal Healthcare Programme represents a fairly effective form of aid, both in urban and rural areas.
Since 2012, the government has embarked on extensive reforms to encourage the growth of the agricultural industry and raise the living standards of the rural population. A Rural and Agricultural Fund has been established to provide the necessary support for infrastructure development and modernization in the agricultural sector. 600 000 families have received direct agricultural assistance. The majority of the population of Georgia is confident that the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the EU will bring about positive effects in the agriculture and food sectors. According to the Rural Development Strategy 2015-2020, the government aims to create an environment that will increase competitiveness in the food sector, promote the stable growth of high quality agricultural production and ensure food safety and security.14 The state programme "Produced in Georgia" facilitates small entrepreneurship initiatives in rural areas. In addition, "Host in Georgia" constitutes a second sub-programme for promoting the development of tourism in Georgia. These programmes offer unique opportunities for representatives of small business to make their own businesses more successful and viable. It is reasonable to assume that women will take an active part in these programmes, particularly if local authorities strongly support rural women through long term loans and access to new technology.
The currently approved law "Development of Mountainous Regions" aims to encourage people to live and work in the country's mountainous regions. Incentives include: 20 percent higher pensions and social benefits; and an additional salary for veterinarians, agricultural professionals, teachers and doctors working in the mountains. This could potentially motivate more women and men to work in these regions.15 One of the most important challenges for increasing women's role in the agricultural value chain is the facilitation of a shift from the supply of production inputs to the retail of products. Within this, the promotion of domestic production is necessary via active marketing campaigns and developing market information systems.16 The state plans to implement capacity building programmes for women to support this goal.
In relation to food safety, the state plans to fully align food safety and phyto sanitary regulations to the EU acquis. It intends to implement capacity building programmes for existing laboratories, as well as the creation of new laboratories. Women have good experience for gaining employment in laboratories, but many will need to update their knowledge and learn more about modern technologies.
With support from the government and donor agencies, hundreds of women's cooperatives were established in rural areas. Some progress has been made in terms of the economic empowerment of women in rural areas, but this has had little impact at structural or societal levels. It is important to support rural women's involvement in the export process to increase their access to finance and markets. Women's economic empowerment is, therefore, fundamental to increasing social capital and economic development in the country. The recommendations for the main stakeholders include:
O Ensuring that policies and programmes designed to revitalize the rural economy, including its agricultural production, processing and marketing functions, take into account the role of women and women's groups;
O Increasing women's role in the agricultural value chain, to provide them with the ability to control chain management;
13 Transparency International Georgia, 2015.
14 Strategy for Agricultural Development in Georgia 2015-2020.
15 The Law of Georgia on the Development of High Mountainous Regions (2015).
16 CARE & GeoWel, 2013.
O Increasing agro-tourism in rural localities and promoting them as new and alternative workplaces for women, which will have a socio-economic and cultural impact;
O Developing social infrastructure, including the improvement of pre-school facilities to the latest standards, the provision of financial incentives for personnel and additional arrangements to significantly improve women's employment opportunities;
O Enhancing women's capacity in marketing, the commercialization of knowledge and access to new technologies;
O Supporting gender advocates to influence policies and strategies for the economic empowerment of women in rural areas;
O Encouraging social dialogue between local authorities, business and civil society to increase transparency and accountability in gender budgeting.
References
Bluashvili, A. & Sukhanskaya, N. 2015. Country Report: Georgia, March 2015. The Fund Georgian Center for Agribusiness Development. (available at http://www.agricistrade.eu/wp-content/ uploads/2015/05/Agricistrade Georgia.pdf).
CARE & GeoWel. 2013. Gender analysis under "Local actors join for inclusive economic development and governance in the South Caucasus" (joint) project. (available at www.geowel.org/files/care gender -final 2013.docx).
The European Initiative - Liberal Academy Tbilisi (EI-LAT) & G-PAC Think Tank Program (USAID). 2012. The Economic Transformation of Georgia in its 20 Years of Independence. Summary of the discussion paper. (available at http://www.ei-lat.ge/images/doc/the%20economic%20 transformation%20of%20georgia%20-%2020%20years%20of%20independence%20eng.pdf).
EU & FAO. 2012. Assessment of the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector in Eastern Partnership Countries: Georgia. (available at http://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/georgia assesment final en.pdf).
FAO. 2015. Report of In-Depth Country Assessment: Georgia. Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics. (available at http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/rap/files/Project/Global Strategy Country Pages/Georgia/IdCA Report Georgia.pdf).
Jashi, C. 2004. Development of women's entrepreneurship: The case of Georgia. In Access to Financing and ICT for Women Entrepreneurs in the UNECE Region: Challenges and Good Practices. Geneva-New York. (available at http://www.tanzaniagateway.org/docs/access to financing ict.pdf).
Khitarishvili, T. 2015. Gender and Employment in South Caucasus and Western CIS. Background Paper, UNDP. (available at http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/UNDP%20Gender%20 and%20Employment%20in%20South%20Caucasus%20and%20Western%20CIS%202015.pdf).
The Law of Georgia on the Development of High Mountainous Regions. 2015. (available at www.agora. mfa.gr/agora/images/docs/rad96C44mountain law.pdf).
Ministry of Agriculture. 2015. Strategy for Agricultural Development in Georgia 2015-2020. (available at www.moa.gov.ge/Download/Files/9).
National Statistics Office of Georgia. 2015a. Women and Men in Georgia. Statistical Publication. Tbilisi. (available at http://www.geostat.ge/cms/site images/ files/english/health/Women%20and%20 Men 2015.pdf).
National Statistics Office of Georgia. 2015b. Factcheck, March 2015.
The World Bank Group. 2015. Georgia Partnership Program Snapshot. (available at http://www. worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/Georgia-Snapshot.pdf).
Transparency International Georgia. 2015. Public opinion on the universal health care programme (available at http://www.transparency.ge/en/node/5616).
