The Program fo
r Accomplishment of the Activities of Georgian Academy of Agricultural
Sciences
Academician Guram Aleksidze, 2018-2022
Summary
Following the Regulation adopted by Georgian Parliament which states that main function of Georgian Academy of Agricultural Sciences is to coordinate scientific work conducted by research institutes in agrarian sphere, the role of the Academy, as a an advisor of Georgian government, is increasing and attaining particular significance.
One of the major directions today in agriculture is developing modern technologies for production of ecologically pure agricultural products and their application in production process. Scientific work of the researchers of the Academy is concentrated on solution of this problem.
For the last five years, a number of important activities have been carried out by the Academy, such as, a. Coordination between research institutions has been increased; b. Mutually beneficial scientific – research contacts have been set up with foreign scientific-research organizations; c. Number of international scientific conferences have been held dedicated to urgent problems in agriculture; d. The strategy of development of agriculture and its implementation have been worked out; and e. Some recommendations with instructions on actual problems for farmers have been published and disseminated. The academy also organizes annual contests to reveal the best scientist of the year and the best research conducted in the field of agriculture.
Based on above said, it could be stated that the Academy is occupying the niche which is important for its effective functioning. Though a significant progress has been achieved in recent period by the Academy, number of actual problems is yet to be solved.
I will start with organization problems:
1. The Academy should become a significant scientific-research center which will comprise other research organizations. Though there are some scientific-research centers functioning at the Ministry of Agriculture and at Georgian Technical University working on solving agro-technological problems, we believe that scientific-research centers of agro-technology, agro-engineering, cattle breeding, veterinary, and food production, processing and keeping should be also developed within the system of the Academy.
Such systems are successfully functioning on China, South Korea, Rumania, Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Russia and other countries. We consider developing the abovementioned form of organization necessary, and our assumptions will be presented to Georgian government.
It is evident that, the branches of agrarian sciences, such as agro-biotechnology, plant and animal selection, prediction of spread of pest and disease, modeling of bio-systems, agro-biodiversity, and other are to be developed within the Academy system; otherwise, we will not be able to carry out scientific research work in line with modern requirements, and will miss the opportunity to raise a new generation of researchers in the agrarian field. To address this problem, government involvement and financial support is important.
2. It is necessary to create a new department for “Implementation of modern technologies” at the Academy which will assist the process of implementation of the measurements and recommendations for improvement, which was worked out by our scientific departments, in farming process. The scheme will be as follows: The members of the Academy after consulting with the Presidium of the Academy, will discuss the problems of practical importance with farmers, and the innovations will be implemented in cooperation with farmers and producers.
By the end of each year, obtained results will be summarized, consequently, implementation measures will be worked out. Recommended methods and approaches will guarantee establishment of close cooperation between the scientific workers and producers, and the farmers will ultimately promote implementation of the research results.
In the process of dissemination, media plays important role. A potential of local media, and particularly of a new TV channel - Saperavi TV, focused on agrarian problems, is not yet fully used. It should be widely applied for dissemination of the information prepared by the Academy. Through TV channel, we should deliver to rural population useful information about new technologies and measures to be taken according to different seasons. A good example is a TV Series about Asian Brown Marmorated stink Bug and the agricultural measures carried out against it. Regular repetition of the programs should be defined according to the needs and demands.
I think, this function should be undertaken by the Department of Technologies of the Academy.
Also, the Department should study the problems of diagnostics of diseases and soil fertility. These two problems are crucial, so to effectively address this problem, the Department should have modern equipment and should be staffed with new scientific workers. Production of Agricultural products needs most updated information. The Department which will provide required innovations to the production will be working on self-financing.
3. The Center for Raising Qualification of Farmers and Specialists needs to be more active unit to broaden and enhance its scope of work. Necessary infrastructure has already been organized at the Academy for the Center to carry out more fruitful and active work. Such as, work out training programs and select qualified trainers. These training courses will soon be working on self-financing. At present, the problem is that we do not have resources for our teachers/ trainers and they do not get any salary. This problem should be also solved together with the Ministry of Agriculture.
4. We consider it necessary to set up a Scientific Council which will be responsible for selecting and approving the Board in different directions of agrarian sciences. We hope the work of such boards in the Academy will enhance the reputation and prestige of the Academy, and will assist to the training and preparing of young researchers; The latter is becoming a serious problem which should be managed appropriately.
A new regulation about science development also deals with the Academy, accordingly, we should be given necessary financing to attract scholarships for young researchers working in the field of agrarian sciences. It will be a way of systematically enhancing the staff of the Academy. The young researchers will continue their career in the system of Academy and become a staff member.
5. The best way to get scientific information and then share and use it is to participate in international scientific conferences. The Academy also has some achievements in this direction, we have organized and hosted five international Conferences for the last five years which were sponsored by Shota Rustaveli Foundation. I want to focus on the most recent Conference “Viticulture and Winemaking in European Countries: Historical Aspects and Perspectives”, held in October 2017. The Conference once again demonstrated the importance of collaboration in scientific researches. The articles presented by Georgian and foreign researchers which were the result of their teamwork testified the historical importance of ancient Georgian vine.
In the nearest future, we are planning to organize international Conference on the following topics: “Georgia –one of the birthplaces of cultivated wheat” (the end of May, 2018), and another conference will be dedicated to the most urgent problem: “Asian Armored Bug – significant threat to agriculture and forests”. (October, 2018). Specialists, scientists and practitioners from many countries will be invited.
The Academy will be hosting a Seminar on the problems of viticulture and winemaking in collaboration with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of China. Preparation for the seminar is started and it will take place this year.
As we have mentioned, it is very important that the Academy is involved in international projects, for example, the development of Ajara mountainous region development project. Groundwork for participation in European projects has been carried out, the researchers of the Academy will be involved in joint scientific projects and get some reimbursement. The project will last a few years and it will embrace more than one areas.
6. Particular attention in my presentation is paid to the problem of further enhancement of coordination of researches in agrarian sciences. For this purpose, we have signed agreements with most universities and governmental and private organizations and enterprises working on the problems of agriculture. The Academy will continue working in this direction. We are planning to organize “Partners’ Alliance” and invite all participants to share our viewpoint and future plans on various problem. These meeting could be held once in two years and short summaries of each meeting will be published in a brochure. We also suggest setting up a “Board of Partners” and inviting one representative from each partner organization as a board member to direct the activities and make decisions. It will create opportunity to supervise and coordinate the work done by the partner organizations, as well as define the further plans and directions.
7. We shall start large scale work on complex development of regional agriculture. The Academy has accumulated some valuable experience in this area. We carried out consultations with experienced experts, Academicians Nodar Chitanava and Omar Keshelashvili and outlined the action plan. The regional problems and main directions of development (cultures, processing plants) should be discussed together with the representatives of regions who are members of Academy now.
The members of Georgian Parliament show live interest towards this problem which will be solved successfully in case the Academy sets mutually beneficial agreements with the regional governments and relevant bodies.
8. One of the core objectives of the Academy is to prepare for publication and publish scientific literature. Last year we published two books in viticulture and horticulture. We are planning to publish also books on vegetables, subtropical cultures, grain cultures, and other. Also, we agree with Acad. A. Didebulidze, who suggested publication of Dictionary of Terminology in Agriculture (It is advisable to work on English - Georgian - Russian language dictionary). The Academy has purchased printing equipment which made our Yearly Account to be published on high holographic level.
9. Some existed disadvantage which should be addressed in the nearest future – is low salaries of our academicians and secretaries. Increase of their payment is one of the actual problems, and though we have received a promise from government about increase of salary, it remains unsolved till present. We shall raise this problem again with the hope to get desired result.
We hope that fulfillment of above mentioned activities and those which will arise in future in the course of work will further enhance scientific work carried out by the Academy; It will create basis for complex development of agriculture of the country and increase the effectiveness of agricultural industry.