The government will allocate additional GEL 150 million to improve currently “very dissatisfactory situation” in the agriculture, President Saakashvili said in his annual state of the nation address on February 11.

Currently 2011 state budget allocates for the Ministry of Agriculture GEL 69.1 million, up from GEL 38.3 million in 2010.

Saakashvili said that the goal was to double agriculture production by 2015. Agriculture contributes less than 10% of country’s GDP.

He said that although there had been “progress” in agriculture sector in last five years, “in overall situation in the sector remains very dissatisfactory, including in creation of new agricultural processing enterprises.”

Saakashvili said that the authorities had provided number of incentives to boost agriculture, including in creation of processing plants, but, as he said, businesses failed to follow.

“We’ve decided that the state, in partnership with the business, should engage in development of the agriculture sector more actively. In particular, agriculture store houses and logistics centers will be built,” Saakashvili said.

“We plan to increase agriculture funding by GEL 150 million… This is our response to the global inflation,” he added.