Minister: This year harvest volumes in Armenia will not exceed previous year`s volumes

ArmInfo. In the current year, the volume of harvest in Armenia will not exceed last year's volumes. On September 13, RA Minister of Agriculture Ignatiy Arakelyan stated from the rostrum of the Parliament.

According to him, last year the harvest of grapes amounted to 158 thousand tons. In the current year, taking into account the climatic conditions, the harvest may even be 10% less than last year. Processing enterprises of the republic are able to take all the technical varieties of berries. Certain volumes will be exported. Viticulture in recent years, the minister continued, began to play a decisive role in the economy of the country, as cognac and wine production constitute a significant part of Armenian exports. Together with the Wine Development Fund within the framework of state programs, a register of wine growers will be created, in which the communities in which this or that grapes are produced will be clearly represented.  The program itself will last about a year, during which it will be fully automated. In electronic form, both the harvester and the grapes supplier will be aware of the production volumes of different grape varieties, and the pricing policy of the procurer will also be presented.

Minister also informed that two weeks the Government approved a new procurement program, which provides for state subsidies to be borrowed by enterprises that procured loans at a rate of 3%. The essence of the program is that credit funds will be provided to farmers, with whom the contract will be concluded.  This year the program will become a pilot program and provides for each company to provide loans for up to 150 million AMD. 14 companies have already applied for credit resources. From next year, this amount will increase to 1 billion drams. At the same time, loan funds will be provided for a period of 1 year, so that government subsidies are not considered as a source for business.