By Victoria Vardanyan Yerevan, July 17– Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian discussed the forthcoming implementation of a $52 million program aimed at developing agriculture in Armenia with the head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Armenia programs, Henning Pedersen. The “Rural Abilities Program” will be implemented in 2011-2015. According to Pedersen, the program consists [...]

YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), June  20–”More than 80 percent of the Armenian territory is at risk to various types of desertification,” said Ashot Vardevanyan, Deputy Head of the Minister of Nature Protection Bioresources Management Agency and the coordinator of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought. Since 1995 people throughout the world have been commemorating [...]

YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), June 2–In 2010, the apricot harvest in Armenia will be halved, amounting to about 45,000 tons, Ara Hovhannisian, associate professor in the Armenian State Agrarian University said. In 2009 the apricot harvest amounted to 90-92,000 tons, and 80,000 tons in 2008 were harvested. According to Hovhannisian, the decrease in the apricot harvest is [...]

YEREVAN (RFE/RL), May 21–Authorities in Armenia’s Armavir region reported on Thursday serious damage to local agriculture from violent rain and storm that battered the fruit-growing area south and west of Yerevan earlier this week. The hailstorm destroyed a significant part of crops grown by local farmers. The regional governor, Ashot Ghahramanian, expressed hope that they [...]

YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), May 19—Armenia’s apricot harvest in has already suffered about 25-30 percent losses, says the Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Gerasim Alaverdyan. According to him, the total damage to the apricot crop is not defined yet, but the Ararat valley and the Armavir region suffered most of all. The minister said that the prolonged heavy rains [...]