Waterless and Harvestless Farmer in Kakheti

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

Protesting peasant farmers in Kakheti are angry and their tempers have already reached peaked out. Thousands are demanding water so to irrigate their small plots. They have appealed to the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture and local government several times with their pleas but to no avail.  Unless “Alazani Ltd” allows water to be diverted into irrigation system immediately, it is highly possible that this year’s crop will be a complete failure.  Many of the seedlings of cucumber, tomato and other vegetable crops have already been severely impacted by not having access to water.

Alazani irrigation channel provides the irrigation network that provides water for nearly 22,500 hectares of land in seventy villages in the Kakheti region of East Georgia. The Georgian Municipality Development Fund has been carrying out the rehabilitation activities of the irrigation channel with the financial support of the World Bank for several years already. The peasants claim the repair done on the system was mostly completed in spring.

“Workers are almost totally idle and practically nothing in winter, summer and the autumn. They only start working in spring and their activities hinder supplying water in the channel. The water has not been flowing in the channel for already several months. Only a short time ago, when the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was in Kakheti, he said that the peasants would not experience any problems in terms of the irrigation system. However, everything happened just to the opposite to his predictions.. Seedlings of cucumber and other vegetables have been ruined in our greenhouses. Personally I have 4,400 seedlings and I need lots of water to look after them. I cannot manage to fetch enough water from a distance by car keep them watered.

Seedlings at this stage of development, before being transplanted to the field, are very vulnerable and they must be watered very often. If not, they will dry out and die. It almost impacts the ability of the root system to properly develop. More than half of them have already died. I have spent almost 3,000 GEL. It now appears that this year I will go without a harvest. I cannot sleep at night because of the many problems,” said Ioseb Korkotashvili, a resident of the village of Kardenakhi in Gurjaani district told.

“They should at least water flowing at 20 centimeters in depth in order not to hinder the World Bank funded rehabilitation works. We need to have this water to pump to our crops, especially in the greenhouses.  Almost all of us have taken out a bank loan to grow seedlings and to cover other operating expenses. As it not looks, if they do not supply us with water will have no choice but to go bankrupt. I am fifty-one year old man and I do not remember such a drought in March.

We have planted onion and garlic for one month already but the seed has not sprouted. The seed is just sitting in the ground and not doing anything, and this allows it to be subject to rot or to be eaten by rodents. We met a representative of the Melioration Department and he promised to raise the question with the board of the organization that is implementing the rehabilitation works.

Later we called him and he said the water would not be let in the channel until April 15. Why should we need water on April 15? There would not be any plants in our plots by that time. After that they will come and demand us to pay the irrigation bills. I am warning everybody not to come here and demand us money when they have refused to supply us with an immediate supply of water. They are literally everybody that lives here by keeping us from water. We may have to block central high-ways in getting our message across.

 We will not be alone in the street, our children and wives will also join our demonstrations until we are supplied with water. There is not difference between killing us by starvation or by shooting us with guns in response to our protests,” Aleksandre Khatiashvili, explained and he could not hold back his anxiety over the situation. Others fully agreed with him and shared the same plight.

Many peasants are ready to pay the water bills in advance if they can be supplied with water. But Temur Lamazoshvili, director of the “Alazani Ltd”, pointed out that until April 15 the water cannot be supplied to them. “What kinds of seedlings are getting spoiled? Where did you hear that? It is too early for such horticultural activities as they do not need water as of yet. Why are they making fuss? I can supply them with water immediately but the company that is repairing the irrigation channel will be prevented from completing their activities in a timely way.  Thus, the peasants will not gain anything by such efforts. The World Bank has funded this project and nobody will allow us to slow it down,” said Lamazoshvili.

The Municipality Development Fund reported that currently based on the request of the Alazani Ltd cleaning activities are going on in the additional 26 kilometers of the irrigation channel. “Alazani Ltd is responsible to let water into the channel. As for the deadline for the implemented work the project should have been carried out at four stages. The fourth stage will soon be finished. The total expense of the implemented activities on the Alazani irrigation channel is 14, 851, 84 GEL. The channel will supply the villages in Telavi, Gurjaani, Sighnaghi and Dedoplistskaro districts. It will improve the irrigation process on 22,500 hectares of land,” said Vazha Kirtava, Kakheti region’s Technical Supervisor of the Municipality Development Fund.

Kakheti regional governor’s administration has information about the problems facing the peasants. Giorgi Botkoveli, deputy regional governor, said that the peasants might be in great need of water but the rehabilitation works cannot be hindered for any reason.

Unless the peasants are supplied with water they intend protest starting today.

Reportedly, after having made a comment with the Human Rights Center, Temur Lamazoshvili met peasants with in the village of Kardenakhi and threatened them with imprisonment if they dared to protest over the water.