The Ukrainian delegation of hazelnut growers safely returned to Ukraine. The program of the visit to Georgia was so extremely densely packed with meetings, visits to plants, factories, 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 further 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 gardens of farmers in five of the fourteen regions of Georgia: Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Adjara, Kakheti, but 10-12% of the area are industrial gardens.

The largest hazelnut region in Georgia is Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti or Samegrelo, or Megrelia (Samegrelo, Georgian Samegrelo-zemo Svaneti), 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 varies between 2°C and 5°C.

According to the Chairman of the Board of the Association of Hazelnut Growers of Georgia, Merab Chitanava (Merab_Chitanava), 95% of gardens grow local varieties of hazelnuts, the main of which is 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 processing products.

The main types of hazelnuts for export:

• Hazelnuts in the shell (Inshell Hazelnuts), Size: 18-19-20-21-22 mm or according to the customer's specification.

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

• 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 are made:

• Hazelnuts are cut into cubes (Diced Hazelnuts) 2-4 mm in size.

• Hazelnut Meal 0-2 mm in size

• Hazelnut paste.

International food safety standards BRC Global Standard , ISO 22000 and others are implemented at all enterprises where the products are fully intended for export.

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

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

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

In addition, they 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 the company Nuts Incorporated to smaller orchards, where, talking with agronomists, they found out the general technological "secrets" of growing Georgian hazelnuts in industrial gardens.

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

During the first four days of our visit, the conversations with the specialists of the operating processing enterprises enabled the Ukrainian hazelnut growers to fully familiarize themselves with the production structure, the organization of the hazelnut processing process, and the equipment of the 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 venerable master Zurab Markozia, whose equipment we met in almost every factory or factory. We talked with master Marcozi, we found out the possibilities of supplying the most "running" equipment to Ukraine.

After that, in the hotel where we stayed, representatives of the French equipment of the well-known company "Ciman Sommier" were already waiting for us, who made a presentation of the hazelnut processing equipment and a direct video link 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 Growers 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 mythologies, 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 steadily provides well-being to tens of thousands of hardworking Georgians who grow and process it...

President of the Ukrainian Nut Association G. Yudin

Zugdidi - Warsaw - Kyiv