Two years ago, 38-year-old Thea Tskhomelidze from the village of Meleqeduri, in Georgia’s picturesque Guria region, spotted a unique opportunity. With demand for blueberries booming both locally and abroad, she saw a way to transform her small piece of land into something much bigger.
Today, Thea proudly nurtures a flourishing intensive blueberry orchard — a bold step into innovative farming.
“I loved this job from day one and became very passionate about it,” she recalls with a smile.
From the beginning, her vision went beyond traditional farming methods. After researching her options, Thea realized that her land was perfect for an intensive blueberry orchard — an approach where saplings are planted in pots. This allowed her to grow the equivalent of three acres of plants on just one hectare. The setup is more demanding to start, but it’s easier to maintain and gives better results: the pots allow more sunlight to reach the plants, and the nutrients stay concentrated. Unlike conventional orchards, which take about three years to bear fruit, Thea’s garden began producing in just one.
But success didn’t come easy. Financing became a major hurdle. With a EUR 23,000 loan through the Bank of Georgia’s „ agro credit" programme, she planted her first 1,500 saplings. Still, with no automated irrigation system, she had to water every plant by hand.
“I would spend my mornings and nights with the blueberries, making sure they had just the right amount of water,” she says. “I used handheld testers to check the soil’s acidity and salinity. It was tough, but I had so much enthusiasm and was ready to power through — for a while.”
That’s when EU4Business stepped in to support her journey.
Through the EU-funded project “GREEN Guria – Supporting Local Democracy and Rural Development for Inclusive and Resilient Green Growth” (under the European Union’s ENPARD IV Programme), Thea received vital support. Implemented by CENN in partnership with the Young Pedagogues’ Union, the Institute of Democracy, and the Local Action Group of KEDA, the project helps improve economic and social conditions in rural Guria. It promotes green, inclusive growth and empowers local communities — especially women, youth, and vulnerable groups — to participate in building a climate-resilient future.
Thanks to this support, Thea was able to install an automated irrigation system, add smart monitoring tools connected to an app, and double her orchard with another 1,500 saplings.
“When I found out I was getting the funding, I was overjoyed. I still remember that moment,” she says. “The new technology not only eased my physical work — it also made my blueberries even better.”
Now, she has her sights set on the future.
Her next goal? To build a greenhouse that protects her crop from extreme weather, opening the door to one day exporting her blueberries to the EU.
“This support gives me hope that I’ll reach my goals sooner than I ever imagined,” she says — proof that with the right help, even a small plot of land can bloom into something extraordinary.
