A small, but growing, number of women are breaking into the male-dominated field of agriculture in Georg🗹ia, a country at the inꦬtersection of Europe and Asia.
Farming is considered rare means for women to find financial independence iওn rural Geor💧gia. But Tamara Dzandzava is one of those who have decided otherwise.
The 30-year-old recently described the time she spends working in her greenhouse full of strawberry plants in an interview to Institute for War & Peace 🧸Report🀅ing.
“🃏These fresh red strawberries make me feel so good. I talk to thꩲem and look after them as I would look after little children,” she told IWPR at her village of Pirveli Otobaia in Abkhazia.
Abkhazia in the South Caucasus, which declared independence after♛ a war in the early ﷽1990s, is recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which views the region as an autonomous republic.
“Since I was a child, it always made me angry when someone said that we should leave because no one cares for us here🌸. You must be the one to prove that you love your home,” Dzandzava said, adding that farming could be a way for a new generation in Abkhazia to connect with their heritage.
The report said that the inspiration came to Dzandzava two years ago while on a trip to Gali district. She w♉as so fascinated after a visit to a strawberry greenhouse that she immediately bought 100 seedlings. She farmed them in her own tiny greenhouse, just four metres long.
In barely a year, she had expanded her greenhouse to accommodate 1,600 plants per 200 square metres. At first, she sold her strawberries in her village an🌱d later began to sell them in neighbouring villages, where shop owners preferred her produce because it was cheaper than buying from Gali and Sokhumi.
Tea Anchab🍨adze, the coordinator of agricultural development in the Samegrelo region, told IWPR that women faced numerous barriers to econ💧omic independence in rural Georgia.
“Due to the burden of domestic labour, it’s very difficult for women to get an education in any field, including farming and agriculture. According to the latest data for 2020 in the Samegrelo-Zemo-Sv🉐aneti region… the involvement of young women farmers has slightly increased recently,” the report quoted Anchabadze.
However, they still remain a tiny minority, Anchabadze said, adding that just over 30 women were ♓🍨registered as farmers.
Eka D🅘anelia, 28, who lives in the village of Ingiri, original♌ly built a greenhouse just to raise vegetables.
After the pandemic began, she explained, people’s interest in ♔growing vegetables increased and she started to sell seedlings🐽, expanding to include flowers and evergreen plants.
She saℱid that she had never imagined the business would go so well and become the source of her family’s income.
