Agriculture in Georgia (country)

Georgia’s climate and soil have made agriculture one of its most productive economic sectors; in 1990, the 18 percent of arable Georgian land generated 32 percent of the republic's net material product. Since the end of the Soviet period, there has been a decline in the agricultural labor force: some 25 percent of the Georgian workforce was engaged in agriculture in 1990; 37 percent had been so engaged in 1970.

In the Soviet period, swampy areas in the west were drained and arid regions in the east were salvaged by a complex irrigation system, allowing Georgian agriculture to expand production tenfold between 1918 and 1980. However, production was hindered in the Soviet period by the misallocation of agricultural land, such as the assignment of prime grain fields to tea cultivation and excessive specialization. Georgia’s emphasis on labor-intensive crops such as tea and grapes kept the rural workforce at an unsatisfactory level of productivity.

As of 2011, 281,000 hectares of land were sown, representing 35.0% of the arable land;1,823,000 head of livestock were cataloged; and agribusiness represented 9.3% of the national GDP. 2012 preliminary data shows agribusiness contribution as 8.4% of GDP.