Youth In Cooperatives in Georgia

Bc. Petra Šrůtková

Master's thesis

Abstract:

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the productivity of agriculture sector started decreasing despite of the agricultural potential of Georgia, and the subsequent civil war caused a lot of people to emigrate. There has been a long-term decreasing trend in the rural population and agricultural production. That is why The European Neighbourhood Programme for Agricultural and Rural Development in Georgia (ENPARD) with the main objectives to increase food production and reduce rural poverty in Georgia through agri-cooperatives, was established and 11 cooperatives was set up in the Imereti by the time of our research. The aim of this research was to analyse the involvement of youth in cooperatives in Imereti region in Georgia and to identify some of the factors related to the agricultural cooperatives and the rural-urban migration. The data for this qualitative research was collected through semi-structured questionnaires with young members of cooperatives (N=11) and semi-structured interviews with members of the Board (N=5) and key informants (N=2) in July 2015. The Likert-scale and the Ranking score method were used for some questions in the questionnaire. We found out that the enterprise of a cooperative could be attractive for youth and women who want to engage in agriculture and it could possibly restrict rural-urban migration. Our respondents who were already members of a cooperative seemed quite satisfied according to their statements in the coops. We also indentified two main factors that had an influence on their staying in rural areas and working in agriculture (family, family farming tradition) and the prime impulse and motivation for joining the cooperative.

Keywords

agriculture, young people, migration, rural areas

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 22. 4. 2016

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Jana Mazancová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / field:
Tropical Agriculture / Sustainable Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics