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The Messenger, Georgia
Aug 22 2012
Armenian town hosts first-ever honey and berry festival
By Etuna Tsotniashvili
Wednesday, August 22
The town of Berd, in the Tavush district of Armenia hosted its
first-ever festival of honey and berries on Saturday. With the goal of
popularizing Armenian honey and berries the festival attracted
hundreds of visitors.
I was a member of a small Georgian delegation at the festival. The
Armenian honey event was of particular interest to government
representatives from the Kvemo Kartli region, who went to see how
their Armenian counterparts in the Tavush region work to promote the
potential of their region.
The attractions of Tavush region were in full display on Sunday: the
visitors had an opportunity to enjoy local dishes made of honey and
berries as well as view an exhibition of carpets and tapestries made
by local craftsmen. The festival was accompanied by a variety of
cultural events, including folk dancing and music performances.
"This visit by the Georgian local government officials aim to generate
double benefits," says Mikheil Pakatsoshvili, a coordinator of the
JOIN project working in the Georgian-Armenian border region. "First,
it demonstrates how local government, civil society and the local
community work hand in hand to promote and spur local economies -
something which the Georgian officials could adopt locally. Second,
even though Georgia has its own honey production, it still is an
opportunity to explore market and investment potential across the
border, thus enhance economic ties between the bordering regions."
The local actorsjoin for inclusive economic development and governance
in the South Caucasus (JOIN) project covers the Kvemo Kartli and
Samtskhe-Javakheti regions of Georgia and the Lori, Tavush and Shirak
marzes of Armenia. The project brings together civil society, local
government and private sector representatives that will identify
potential for economic development and attract investments to rural
areas.
Local beekeepers in Tavush say that this year the honey harvest is not
very big because there was hail twice in the season. If the weather is
good then some of them will get about one ton of honey each year. Most
of them sell their honey locally, although they hope to export soon to
European markets. They plan to market their product better which will
hopefully increase awareness and demand for Tavushian honey.
`The goal of our festival is to provide an opportunity to the
participants and the guests to familiarize themselves with the
marvelous honey and berries of the Tavush region, to stimulate
development of beekeeping in the region, as well as to contribute to
the development of tourism and infrastructure,' Hayk Chobanyan,
Director of the Spiritual Revival of Tavush Foundation told media.
Valera Garanyan has been involved in beekeeping for 30 years and has
many regular clients. He says he will be glad if the local government
supports the increased distribution of local products.
`Now we have no other way to export our honey, I have a great wish to
sell it abroad especially in Europe. I know they don't have natural
honey as we have here. I am sure they will like our product and its
export will be successful,' Garanyan told The Messenger.
The idea was born one day when honorary consul of Norway in Armenia
Timothy Straight suggested to his friends some ways of promoting the
region better. `I said to my friends 'Let's try to start a big project
to develop the region', so now we have a development initiative which
is part of a broader initiative to try to create business and tourism,
bring people here and increase exports. We would like to better
familiarize visitors with the Tavush region and its development
potential.' he said adding that the organizers will try to make the
festival an annual event which will be larger and more diverse in
scope in the coming years.
The honey and berry festival was organized by the «Spiritual Revival
of Tavush» Foundation, `Serund' and `Development and Preservation of
Armenian Culinary Traditions' NGOs in partnership with local
government. Similar activities in Berd and other 12 municipalities
will take place throughout the lifetime of the project. JOIN is
financed by the Austrian Development Agency and implemented by CARE
International in the Caucasus together with local partners, Civil
Development Agency (CiDA) in Georgia and Center for Agribusiness and
Rural Development (CARD) in Armenia.
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/2677_august_22_2012/2677_event.html
Aug 22 2012
Armenian town hosts first-ever honey and berry festival
By Etuna Tsotniashvili
Wednesday, August 22
The town of Berd, in the Tavush district of Armenia hosted its
first-ever festival of honey and berries on Saturday. With the goal of
popularizing Armenian honey and berries the festival attracted
hundreds of visitors.
I was a member of a small Georgian delegation at the festival. The
Armenian honey event was of particular interest to government
representatives from the Kvemo Kartli region, who went to see how
their Armenian counterparts in the Tavush region work to promote the
potential of their region.
The attractions of Tavush region were in full display on Sunday: the
visitors had an opportunity to enjoy local dishes made of honey and
berries as well as view an exhibition of carpets and tapestries made
by local craftsmen. The festival was accompanied by a variety of
cultural events, including folk dancing and music performances.
"This visit by the Georgian local government officials aim to generate
double benefits," says Mikheil Pakatsoshvili, a coordinator of the
JOIN project working in the Georgian-Armenian border region. "First,
it demonstrates how local government, civil society and the local
community work hand in hand to promote and spur local economies -
something which the Georgian officials could adopt locally. Second,
even though Georgia has its own honey production, it still is an
opportunity to explore market and investment potential across the
border, thus enhance economic ties between the bordering regions."
The local actorsjoin for inclusive economic development and governance
in the South Caucasus (JOIN) project covers the Kvemo Kartli and
Samtskhe-Javakheti regions of Georgia and the Lori, Tavush and Shirak
marzes of Armenia. The project brings together civil society, local
government and private sector representatives that will identify
potential for economic development and attract investments to rural
areas.
Local beekeepers in Tavush say that this year the honey harvest is not
very big because there was hail twice in the season. If the weather is
good then some of them will get about one ton of honey each year. Most
of them sell their honey locally, although they hope to export soon to
European markets. They plan to market their product better which will
hopefully increase awareness and demand for Tavushian honey.
`The goal of our festival is to provide an opportunity to the
participants and the guests to familiarize themselves with the
marvelous honey and berries of the Tavush region, to stimulate
development of beekeeping in the region, as well as to contribute to
the development of tourism and infrastructure,' Hayk Chobanyan,
Director of the Spiritual Revival of Tavush Foundation told media.
Valera Garanyan has been involved in beekeeping for 30 years and has
many regular clients. He says he will be glad if the local government
supports the increased distribution of local products.
`Now we have no other way to export our honey, I have a great wish to
sell it abroad especially in Europe. I know they don't have natural
honey as we have here. I am sure they will like our product and its
export will be successful,' Garanyan told The Messenger.
The idea was born one day when honorary consul of Norway in Armenia
Timothy Straight suggested to his friends some ways of promoting the
region better. `I said to my friends 'Let's try to start a big project
to develop the region', so now we have a development initiative which
is part of a broader initiative to try to create business and tourism,
bring people here and increase exports. We would like to better
familiarize visitors with the Tavush region and its development
potential.' he said adding that the organizers will try to make the
festival an annual event which will be larger and more diverse in
scope in the coming years.
The honey and berry festival was organized by the «Spiritual Revival
of Tavush» Foundation, `Serund' and `Development and Preservation of
Armenian Culinary Traditions' NGOs in partnership with local
government. Similar activities in Berd and other 12 municipalities
will take place throughout the lifetime of the project. JOIN is
financed by the Austrian Development Agency and implemented by CARE
International in the Caucasus together with local partners, Civil
Development Agency (CiDA) in Georgia and Center for Agribusiness and
Rural Development (CARD) in Armenia.
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/2677_august_22_2012/2677_event.html