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Georgia Crop Distribution
In 1993 about 85 percent of cultivated land, excluding
orchards, vineyards, and tea plantations, was dedicated to
grains. Within that category, corn grew on 40 percent of the
land, and winter wheat on 37 percent. The second most important
agricultural product is wine. Georgia has one of the world's
oldest and finest winemaking traditions; archeological findings
indicate that wine was being made in Georgia as early as 300 B.C.
Some forty major wineries were operating in 1990, and about 500
types of local wines are made. The center of the wine industry is
Kakhetia in eastern Georgia. Georgia is also known for the high
quality of its mineral waters.
Other important crops are tea, citrus fruits, and noncitrus
fruits, which account for 18.3 percent, 7.7 percent, and 8.4
percent of Georgia's agricultural output, respectively.
Cultivation of tea and citrus fruit is confined to the western
coastal area. Tea accounts for 36 percent of the output of the
large food-processing industry, although the quality of Georgian
tea dropped perceptibly under Soviet management in the 1970s and
1980s. Animal husbandry, mainly the keeping of cattle, pigs, and
sheep, accounts for about 25 percent of Georgia's agricultural
output, although high density and low mechanization have hindered
efficiency.
Until 1991 other Soviet republics bought 95 percent of
Georgia's processed tea, 62 percent of its wine, and 70 percent
of its canned goods (see
table 21;
table 22, Appendix). In turn,
Georgia depended on Russia for 75 percent of its grain. One-third
of Georgia's meat and 60 percent of its dairy products were
supplied from outside the republic. Failure to adjust these
relationships contributed to Georgia's food crises in the early
1990s.
Data as of March 1994
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