We have recently re-invested our Lendwithcare funds with the Nagomari Tea Cooperative. The village of Nagomari was one of the leading tea producing villages during the Soviet Era and at that time, the majority of villagers were employed in the tea sector. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, tea production factories across Georgia were closed, tea plantations abandoned and thousands of jobs lost. In 2015 18 villagers came together and established a tea producing cooperative and so far, they have completely rehabilitated 25 hectares of tea plantation, built a small factory and started tea processing.

They already employed 35 households during the rehabilitation process during one season. This is just the beginning of the process.  They will use this loan to buy a new withering machine to enable them to dry more tea leaves and quickly. This is a vital step in ensuring maximum quality of production. Currently the cooperative’s withering machine can take 60-80 kg of leaves, which is not large enough for the amount the Cooperative are currently harvesting.