The Minister Sergo Karapetyan Participated in the Opening Ceremony of the Farm Service Center in Norapat and Held a Meeting in Aragatsotn

2015-05-12

The RA Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan participated in the official opening ceremony of a Farm Service Center in Norapat community of Armavir region. The center is established at the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD) Fund, within the framework of the project “Partnership for Rural Development”  funded by the USAID.

The governor of Armavir Ashot Ghahramanyan, the US Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, the director of “Agribusiness and Rural Development» (CARD) Foundation Gagik Sardaryan and other guests  participated in the opening ceremony.

“In our country seven farm service centers are established, only one of which was horticulture-oriented. Today this center will be the second similar structure, and later it is planned to build such centers in all the regions,” – said the Minister.

The Minister also added that in addition to the sale of  fertilizers, pesticides and agricultural equipments, the center will be engaged in consulting activities, and further will import  drip irrigation systems and hail protection nets and implement loan programs.

The newly opened center will contribute to the development of advanced technologies and farming practices in business promotion and advancement, playing a major role in accessing financial resources for the market facilitation of farmers and rural SMEs .

The center with the CARD Foundation will create a permanent link among the Armenian farmers and the world famous companies supplying innovative technologies to management for gardening, processing and farms. The center will also serve as a venue for business seminars for students of the State Agrarian University of Armenia.

Then the Minister left for the governor’s office of Aragatsotn where a meeting of the beekeeping sector was held. The governor of Aragatsotn Sargis Sahakyan, the President of Armenia’s National Beekeepers Association  Roza Tsarukyan also participated in the event.

Opening the meeting, the Minister summed up the past year’s work and its results carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture in his opening remarks.

Speaking on the state aid projects allocated to the agricultural sphere, the Minister noted that the distribution of fertilizer and diesel fuel is still in progress, and farms may  submit additional applications if necessary.

The Minister said that within the framework of the project  farmers are provided with fertilizers at  reasonable  prices – 1 bag (50 kg) of nitrogen fertilizer  with the price of 6000 AMD, and potassic and phosphoric fertilizers with the price of 7000 AMD.

1 liter of diesel fuel is provided to the farmers at the cost 350 AMD, up to 200 liters per 1 hectare. The established maximum quantity is 600 liters.

According to the Minister the agriculture is experiencing a dynamic growth in recent years, providing an average of 7.5% growth and has huge potential. The Minister said there is an increase in the number of livestock in recent years, including Aragatsotn region, and animal vaccinations are carried out in time.

Noting that the year is good, especially the fruit and the grape harvest is expected to be high  the Minister once again assured that the procurement will be carried out in full, the state will assist in solving problems and the processing companies will follow the procurement process and everything will be conducted properly and on time.

Given the hot and humid weather conditions observed the Minister advised farmers to make treatment works for the main stone fruit pests and diseases, as weather conditions are conducive to the rapid development of a number of fungal diseases.

The Minister Sergo Karapetyan also said that by the Prime Minister’s instruction jointly with the president of the National Federation of Beekeepers of Armenia Roza Tsarukyan visits will be made to the beekeepers of all the regions to discuss issues, hear recommendations, apiculture development plans and submit to the Government for consideration.

At the conclusion of the meeting the Minister answered the questions raised by the beekeepers.

Division of Information and Public Relations of

the RA Ministry of Agriculture