by FruitADMINThe speech of the founder of Fruit Logistics Nino Kapanadze at the signing of the partnership agreement between Gazelle Finance and DFC
Good afternoon. Thank you for visiting us. It is a great honor for our company to express your interest. Fruit Logistics has been operating on the market for just three years and based on the activities we carry out daily, I can confidently say that we have established ourselves as a logistics center for agricultural products. This is the first logistics company in Georgia, which provides the sale of agricultural products from farmers directly to consumers without additional links.
Today, our company assists 1 070 farmers in the sale of products and logistics of up to 500 types of agricultural products throughout the year. For farmers to be involved in this process easily and in a coordinated manner, we have opened a branch of the company in the Kakheti region, specifically, in Lagodekhi. At the end of the summer, a second branch will be opened in Kartli, Kareli municipality.
We try to help them not only in the sale of products but also in the proper planning of the harvest. Unfortunately, there is no unified database that allows farmers to be informed about which cultures are grown and which products may be in short supply or oversupplied in the market. Therefore, they cultivate different agricultural products in a chaotic manner, which leads to a simultaneous excess yield and a delay in the sale of part of the crop, which accumulates as waste due to decay.
This problem has shown us that it is necessary to gradually cultivate different cultures on demand, which will eliminate the shortage in the market and reduce the need for imports. Also important is the storage culture of agricultural products with refrigeration facilities, which has already been introduced in our company. At present, Fruit Logistics has five refrigerators. I should also mention that we are working on the introduction of composting of agricultural waste, in which the experience is shared by British partners.
From the day the company was founded, our main task is to introduce European standards, which we are actively working on with our biggest fans – Gazelle finance Georgia and USAID Agriculture Program. I would like to express my deep gratitude to these organizations because our company could not have developed without their involvement and financial support. Thank you for working with us today to implement ISO and HACCP standards and the ERP system. Thanks for installing Ecosystems. The solar panels that we install in the company, will reduce our electricity consumption costs by almost 70%.
We are an agrarian country and we should do our best to help reduce imports to the local market by replacing Georgian products. This will also increase the motivation of farmers to develop farms. I am sure we can all do it together. Our company has already taken active steps in this direction. As a result of the pre-agreement that we are concluding with the farmers and guaranteeing the sale of their products, the farmers have become focused not on the quantity but the quality of the products.
I would also like to point out, that we need qualified staff on the path of development in the field of agriculture, however, unfortunately, there is a shortage of such staff in the market. That is why we have also decided to establish a vocational training center, where we will train those who want to meet the relevant needs and then we will employ them in the company. At this point, we have 80 employees. I want to thank them for their daily, tireless work. With the development of the company, naturally, the number of employees will also increase.
That is all I wanted to say this time. Thank you for your attention, interest, and support. Good luck!