Is Georgian Cheese New Wine?
Cheese making technology dates back more than 4000 years. No one really knows when and where the first cheese was made, however, according to the ancient legend, it was originated in Asia and travelers from Asia are believed to have brought the art and the technology of cheese making to Europe. Georgia also has a very reach tradition of cheese making. Archeologists have found the ancient cheese storage dates back to approximately 8000 years, which is preserved in Georgian National Museum. This discovery demonstrated the everlasting tradition of cheese making in Georgia.
14 different varieties of cheese are registered in Georgia, including Dambal-Khacho, Tenili, Chogi, Kalti. Samtskhe-Javakheti is the richest region in terms cheese types. The president of Georgian Cheese Association Ana Mikadze-Chikvaidze, however, claims that she owns 60 finished cheese recipes.
Is it possible for local cheese to catch up with the success of Georgian wine? This article explores the potential of Georgian cheese in the international markets. So far Georgia managed to export this product in difference countries, with the very small amount though. It is classified as an animal product, thus face big obstacles in a way of international trade. It is even harder to export in EU due to very strict regulations. 6 months after when DCFTA was signed, Georgia prepared EU-Georgian association agenda with the plan of implementing recent food safety systems and farm practice. It is noteworthy that due to very critical condition in the sector, it will take a while to achieve a desirable outcome. Local producers are able to implement modern food safety standards in the production process on their own, thus overcome trade barriers and export cheese in western world, however, they lack interest either due to big expenses or due to undersaturated local market, which seems more attractive for them. Several enterprises have already implemented modern management systems, yet this is not enough to satisfy food safety requirement. Cheese is the final part of a production chain and is highly dependent how previous parts are executed. Raw material, i.e milk used in a cheese production should be also produced in accordance with the international food safety standards, otherwise final product does not consider as safe. Veterinary control is also a very importance issue regarding food safety.
Nowadays Georgian production fails to satisfy local demand for cheese, import is very high as a result. The volume of cheese import to Georgia in 2017 reached 9.8 million US dollar while the volume of export was just 0.54 million US dollar. The main export destinations are CIS countries and USA.
Self-sufficiency ratio for milk and other dairy products in 2017 was 82%. This coefficient indicates the extent to which a country relies on its own production resources, in another words it measures import dependency of a country. Self-sufficiency ration for milk and other dairy products in Georgia has gradually decreases over the last decade, thus local demand is becoming more dependent on import. With this indicator, Georgia falls behind with almost every region in the world. In the EU, which has the highest per capita consumption of milk and cheese, self-sufficiency ration for milk and other dairy products exceeds 100%. This means that demand in EU countries is fully satisfied by local production, furthermore, remaining resources are exported to many different countries.
The main challenges Georgian cheese industry faces are lack of raw milk and seasonality. Low productivity of local dairy cattle breeds coupled with lack of awareness among farmers leads to a very critical condition in the industry. farmers do not know how to develop proper nutrition plan and how to prevent and deal with animal diseases. Milk yield is usually reduced during the winter which causes fluctuations in raw milk price. Unstable price and supply becomes a strong insentive for cheese producers to substitute raw milk with powdered milk. cheese made from powdered milk is relatively cheaper then cheese maid from raw milk that creates an unfavorable environment for those producers who only use raw milk in a cheese production. Fortunately for them, the change in regulation regarding milk and dairy products became a huge relief. According to this change producers are allowed to use title “cheese” if and only if the product is made with raw milk. As a result consumers can easily distinguish cheese with natural and artificial ingredients.
It seems paradoxical that instead of strengthening dairy industry by developing farming in the first place as a foundation, with the support of the local government and international donor organizations the process started with developing milk processing plants. As a result, we end up with a lot of processing plants unable to deploy plants’ total productive capacity due to lack of milk. 98% of raw milk is generated from households and only 2% from intensive farms, as a result raw milk resource is very limited. In order to develop industrial cheese making it is vital to evolve dairy farms equipped with modern technologies, and livestock breeding. It is also very important to train/retrain farmers and vets because thinking about developing dairy industry will be just an illusion without qualified professionals. So far several small and large scale projects have implemented in the dairy sector. Nevertheless, the impact in negligible due to ineffective approach. The biggest upcoming project in Georgian dairy industry is “The Food for Progress” implemented by the US Department of Agriculture planning to begin in 2019 and last 5 years. The project budget is 19 million US dollar. This project aims to support livestock and dairy farming development process by increasing productivity, improving quality, implementing best farm management practices and creating agricultural extension models. It is highly desirable that this project will address important challenges in Georgian Dairy sector and implement the relevant policy to overcome difficulties.
A lot of countries throughout the world have unlocked success to dairy industry, Israeli is among them. Country with a limited land resources und unfavorable cremate achieved the success no other country managed to reach. Israeli Dairy industry is famous for its productivity that is a result of effective nutrition, the best veterinary practice, good management and modern technologies. In 2017 average milk yield in Israel was 12,000 kg. This is the largest milk yield in the world. Israel have come a long way since the past few decades. Question is if it is possible for Georgia to reach the same success. It is noteworthy that Kakheti based dairy farm “Kvarlis Baga” is organized in accordance with Israeli model. The farms is very successful, actively operates in the market and maintains leading positions.
Developing dairy industry in Georgia will increase supply, will make cheese market more competitive and will definitely improve the quality. As a result, import dependency will decrease, export potential, however, is very vague for industrial cheese. Ana Mikadze-Chikvaidze is very skeptical regarding industrial cheese export possibilities. Local entrepreneurs mainly produce either Sulguni (mozzarella like taste) or Imeruli (feta like taste). With these cheese varieties Georgia is less likely to compete with mozzarella and feta and to achieve competitive advantage in the international market. On the contrary, there is a lot of room to improve artisan cheese production. Artisan cheese is very popular throughout the world, especially in Europe. Georgia is no exception. This is a traditional, homemade cheese with a high potential to conquer niche market in the western world. Tenili, Guda, Dambal-Khacho are the unique varieties of cheese with no close substitutes in the world, able to introduce Georgia to the rest of the world as an ancient cheese making hub.
Author: Ana Akopashvili