State-of-the-art grapevine pruning online video courses are now available in Georgian

Georgian viticulturalists can now gain in-depth knowledge on winter and green pruning in vineyards by accessing online technical video courses. The video courses by Julio Prieto Diaz, FAO’s International Integrated Vineyard Management Expert, were dubbed in Georgian and are available on the web. The online learning platform was developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) support under the IV phase of the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD IV) funded by the European Union and Sweden.  

The online learning opportunity aims to support the country’s wine sector in improving its competitiveness both within and outside the Georgian market through enhanced grapevine production. At the same time, ensuring a well-managed vineyard that includes state-of-the-art techniques allows the optimization and reduction of the use of phytosanitary inputs, thus bringing significant benefits to the environment and food safety for final consumers.  

The training platform includes two video courses: Vineyard pruning and formation and green pruning. The former focuses on pruning grapevines during winter, aiming to shape the vine structure, control yields, and prepare for the upcoming growth cycle. The online course on green pruning emphasises the management of new shoots after buds break and includes topics such as thinning excess growth, removal of suckers, and improving canopy management to enhance sunlight exposure and air circulation.

Adopting the best pruning practices improves the vineyards’ quality, efficiency, productivity, and overall health of vineyards. This crop represents one of the fundamental elements of Georgian culture and symbolises the country’s agricultural sector. It needs to become more resilient to climate change while, at the same time, ensuring better quality and higher volume of harvest. Consequently, proper grapevine pruning is essential for effective vineyard management, leading to improved phytosanitary conditions and positive industry outcomes. 

“Gaining and utilising in-depth knowledge about pruning techniques leads to higher-quality yields and, importantly, ensures the wellbeing of vineyards. The online courses are, therefore an excellent opportunity for the country’s wine sector to adapt and tackle climate and disease-related risks, while producing wines that are more competitive on the national, as well as European markets. I encourage the Georgian-speaking viticulturalists to seize this tremendous opportunity” said Guido Agostinucci, FAO Programme Manager. 

“Theoretical and technical know-how of pruning is especially important for Georgian viticulturalists to improve the health and productivity of vineyards optimizing phytosanitary conditions of the crop inputs to benefit the environment and final consumers. With the online video tutorials, the country’s wine sector is hence provided with yet another opportunity to further develop primary production through the support of FAO under ENPARD IV of the EU and Sweden,” said Denis Reiss, Programme Officer for Sustainable Food Systems at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia. 

About ENPARD

The European Union supports rural development in Georgia through its ENPARD Programme. Aiming to reduce rural poverty, ENPARD has been implemented since 2013. The Programme started by supporting the development of national agriculture potential. Subsequently, it also concentrated on creating economic opportunities for rural populations in Georgia.