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Georgia holds a unique place in the history of African swine fever in Europe. In 2007, it became the first country on the continent to officially confirm an outbreak of the disease, after which the virus gradually spread across much of Europe.
Industry representatives still frequently refer to the strain currently circulating on the continent as the “Georgian strain”.
No new ASF cases have officially been reported in Georgia since 2007. However, after overcoming the animal health crisis, the sector came under pressure from economic factors, including cheap imported products, high production costs and declining profitability.
According to Rati Kochlamazashvili, deputy head of the Georgian Farmers’ Association, the number of pig farms in the country fell by 12% in 2025, reaching its lowest level in the past decade.
Data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia show that the country’s pig population stood at around 122,000 head at the end of 2025, down 11.8% from the previous year.
Georgia’s pig sector mainly consists of hundreds of small farms, whose number has been declining for several years. Some farmers are leaving the sector because they have no successors, while others are switching to different types of livestock production.
However, the main reason for the industry’s decline is considered to be the growing supply of cheap imported pork and live pigs to the Caucasus region, primarily from Russia. Imported products are sold at prices significantly below the farmgate prices received by local producers.
Georgia’s dependence on imported feed resources is another contributing factor. According to Kochlamazashvili, foreign suppliers often produce their own grain, while Georgian farms depend on grain imports. This increases production costs and weakens their competitiveness.
Native Pig Breed at Risk
The contraction of Georgia’s pig sector also threatens the survival of the native Kakhetian pig breed. The breed is valued for the distinctive taste of its meat, although its productivity is lower than that of modern commercial genetics.
Nearly ten years ago, Georgia’s Scientific Research Center for Agriculture launched a project with investors to preserve the Kakhetian pig. The initiative aimed to promote the breed and establish specialised farms.
However, Kakhetian pigs remain critically rare and are now kept on only a handful of farms. At the same time, the breed has found a niche in Georgia’s emerging organic farming sector.
Similar problems have also been reported in neighbouring Armenia. In November 2024, the government introduced pork import quotas to protect domestic producers. However, the policy was reviewed in 2025 after domestic pork consumption fell by around 10%, raising concerns that further import restrictions could create a shortage on the local market.
PigUA.info, based on materials from foodagribusiness.world