Armenia's agriculture dies out

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenia records a decline in almost all sectors of the economy, which is no surprise to anyone. However, the deepening crisis in the agriculture sector caused heated discussions in Armenian society.

Most recently, Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev mentioned that Russia needs about 1.5 million tons of vegetables, and the country imports this huge amount from Azerbaijan, Morocco, Uzbekistan, China, Israel, etc.

Armenian media and experts resented on the fact that the list includes Azerbaijan, but not Armenia, which is along with Russia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Eurasian Customs Union.

Such outrage and grudge against Russia continues in Armenia for many years, but the fact is that Armenia has nothing to present to Russia, as the Armenian agriculture sector cannot even meet domestic demand.

In terms of agriculture, today’s Armenia is a country without agricultural machinery (the youngest harvester was produced in 1941), a country where the level of manual labor got stuck somewhere in the 19th century, Armenian media note.

Armenia pinned high hopes on agricultural exports when it was joining the Eurasian Economic Union. However, three years have passed but nothing has changed- the agriculture of the country has not progressed.

It has even deteriorated and statistics confirm this: this August the volume of gross output of agriculture decreased by 25 percent compared with August 2016. In the first half of 2017, the gross harvest of cereals decreased by more than half – 53.2 percent year on year. Potato harvest fell by 23.7 percent.

Moreover, the volume of agricultural exports fell. The Customs Service informed that the volume of food exports made about $21 million in the first half of 2017. These are potatoes, tomatoes, bean, cabbage, carrot, fruits, etc. However, in the same period last year, exports of these goods were over than $34 million. Thus, there has been a serious decline of $13 million, or about 40 percent.

Meanwhile, Armenia increased imports of agricultural products. The volume of these goods’ import in Armenia made $80 million in the first half of this year, while it was $63.5 million last year. The increase amounted to $16.5 million, or 30 percent.

The reason of these horrific numbers is the wrong policy of the Armenian Agriculture Ministry and leadership. In the absence of the state support for agricultural programs, the country’s rural population, farmers leave their villages and move to the cities of Armenia or abroad.