UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Today we completed our Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture workshops in Bareti. Bareti is a small village located in the Tsalka Municipality of Southern Georgia. The Tsalka municipality is located in the Kvemo-Kartli region known in Georgia for its fertile soil, access to water resources, and the potential for development of agriculture. This region is also in one of the most ethnically diverse municipalities in the region. In the early 1990’s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tsalka was facing a number of socio-economic development challenges related to the migration of the local Greek population returning to Greece resulting in the abandonment of buildings and property ownership issues. This later caused property ownership conflicts between immigrants resulting from poor land management. Later, the region received an influx of ecological migrants during 2000-2008 from mountainous regions of Georgia (Svaneti and Adjara) that were affected by natural disasters such as la...

The Bediani Children’s Center (BCC) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization located in Bediani in the Tsalka Municipality in the Kvetmo-Kartli Region nestled in the heart of Georgia. Because of the high elevation and rough terrain, this region is one of the most economically depressed in the country. Bediani is better off than the majority of the region which is displayed in their flush toilets, access to medical care, tourist attractions, and sources of income other than farming for the majority of the villagers. No matter where you are in the village, you are surrounded by towering mountains covered in greenery. There is a small river that flows through the center of the village where villagers recreate and draw water for daily use. Just upstream, there is a hydroelectric power dam that provides electricity for the area. Between the village’s children’s center, the large psychiatric hospital, and tourism brought by the historic 11th century convent, here are enough jobs and ...

8:00am: wake up, get ready for the day. 9:00am: the agreed upon departure time - wait outside of the common house. 10:00am: call from Nino, Zviad’s wife, summoning me to her house for breakfast. 11:00am: finish breakfast, wait outside of the common house. 12:00pm: Zviad drives his car to the common house, we all pile in and begin the daily trek. 2:00pm: arrive at Zviad’s restaurant in Tsalka. 4:00pm: drive from Tsalka to Bareti. 4:30pm: conduct interviews. 10:00pm: drive from Bareti to Tsalka. 11:00pm: drive from Tsalka to Bediani. 1:00am: arrive in Bediani. There are two main things I learned from traveling in Georgia are that things have a different procedure than US, and that I had absentmindedly taken roads for granted in the US. Georgian lifestyle is much slower than what seems to be the American lifestyle. In the US, everything is about efficiency and speed. We are constantly attempting to make things and processes faster. The first day w...