The Ukrainian delegation of hazelnut growers has safely returned to Ukraine. The program of the visit to Georgia was so extremely densely packed with meetings, visits to plants, factories, and gardens that after the first "training" day (when there was a little time to write the first part of this article), the opportunity to write about the subsequent days of the delegation's stay in Georgia appeared only at home, in Ukraine.

In Georgia, the total area of hazelnut orchards is about 70 thousand hectares. These are mainly small farmers' orchards in five of the fourteen regions of Georgia: Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Adjara, Kakheti, but 10-12% of the area is industrial orchards.

The largest hazelnut region in Georgia is Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti or Samegrelo, or Megrelia (Samegrelo, Georgian: სამეგმო-ზენ სავართეთი), in which approximately 90% of all Georgian hazelnuts are grown.

I will say right away that the Megrelia region is the most favorable for growing hazelnuts. The average rainfall in this region is 1777 mm, the average annual temperature is 14°C, and in winter the temperature fluctuates between 2°C and 5°C.

According to Merab Chitanava, Chairman of the Board of the Georgian Hazelnut Producers Association, 95% of the orchards grow local hazelnut varieties, the main one being Anakliuri, and only 5% of the area is occupied by industrial varieties of Italian selection, Giffoni.

About 40 processing enterprises, factories, and small workshops are engaged in hazelnut processing in Georgia. Almost all enterprises and factories are focused on the export of hazelnuts and their processed products.

Main types of hazelnuts for export:

• Inshell Hazelnuts, Size: 18-19-20-21-22 mm or according to customer specifications.

• Hazelnut Kernels. Size: 9-11 mm, 11-13 mm, 13-15 mm, 15-17 mm or from 9 mm to 17 mm with a size difference of 1 or 2 mm.

• Roasted, blanched hazelnut kernels (Roasted Hazelnut Kernels). Size: 11-13 mm, 13-15 mm.

• As a raw material for the food industry: bakery and confectionery products, candies, ice cream, chocolate and pastes, the following is produced:

• Diced Hazelnuts 2-4 mm in size.

• Hazelnut flour (Hazelnut Meal) size 0-2 mm

• Hazelnut paste.

All enterprises where products are fully intended for export have implemented the international food safety standard BRC Global Standard , ISO 22000, and others.

The administrative center of the region is the city of Zugdidi (Georgian: ზუგდიდი), which is unofficially called the hazelnut capital of Georgia. It is here, in the hazelnut capital, that the Ukrainian delegation of hazelnut growers is located.

Having covered over 500 kilometers under the wheels of a comfortable minibus, which was kindly provided by the ITS project for the hazelnut delegation, we were able to travel around the entire region.

In total, during their 4-day stay, Ukrainian nut growers got acquainted with production at 9 hazelnut processing plants and factories with different processing volumes: from the largest, newest plant that has just started operating - IG AGRO LLC (up to 80 tons of hazelnut processing per day), to smaller ones, with different equipment configurations on their production lines, with a different list of products produced.

In addition, we visited three industrial hazelnut orchards, also different in size - from the largest hazelnut orchard in Georgia with an area of 1,800 hectares owned by Nuts Incorporated to smaller orchards, where, by talking with agronomists, we found out the general technological "secrets" of growing Georgian hazelnuts in industrial orchards.

Hazelnuts brought in by farmers for processing immediately undergo a very strict quality check in the laboratories of these enterprises.

Communication with specialists from operating processing enterprises during the first four days of our visit allowed Ukrainian hazelnut growers to fully familiarize themselves with the production structure, organization of the hazelnut processing process, and equipping production lines with the most advanced equipment.

On the fifth, last day of our stay in Georgia, in the morning we were able to visit the Geo Mark factory for the production of hazelnut processing equipment of the most venerable master Zurab Markozia, whose equipment we met in almost every plant or factory. We talked with master Markozia, found out the possibilities of supplying the most "running" equipment to Ukraine.

After that, at the hotel where we were staying, representatives of the French equipment company Ciman Sommier were already waiting for us, who made a presentation of hazelnut processing equipment and a direct video connection with the management of this factory in France.

Later, at 2 p.m., the Ukrainian-Georgian conference began, in which all three Georgian associations took part: the Association of Hazelnut Processors and Exporters of Georgia (HERA), the Georgian Hazelnut Producers Association (GHGA), the Union of Hazelnut Farmers, together with Georgian hazelnut producers and processors.

… In ancient times, the name of the large Georgian region, which now includes Megrelia, was called COLCHIDA. According to ancient Greek mythology, it was to these lands that the brave Argonauts, led by the hero Jason, sailed to obtain the GOLDEN FLEECE - a talisman of well-being.

THE GOLDEN FLEECE of modern Georgia is the HAZELNUT, which consistently provides prosperity to tens of thousands of hardworking Georgians who grow and process it…

President of the Ukrainian Walnut Association G. Yudin

Zugdidi – Warsaw - Kyiv