ArmInfo.In Armenia, it is planned to create an agricultural exchange through which, inter alia, land of agricultural significance will be transferred for rental use for a period of five years. On November 7 at the parliamentary hearings on the draft state budget of the country for 2019, Acting Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Gegham Gevorgyan stated.
According to him, according to the strategy of development of agricultural production, until 2020, the area of arable land will increase to 72% against 50% at present. The need to solve problems with the exchange due to the fact that many farmers abandoned their plots and moved to permanent residence in the city.
According to the same strategy, in 2019 it is planned to increase by 4.5% the volume of agricultural production, bringing them to 2020 by 16%. At the same time, the livestock of small cattle is planned to increase from the current 55 thousand to 66 thousand, and large - from the current 15 thousand to 25 thousand. It is planned to carry out a lot of work in the direction of improving the efficiency of pastures, which, according to the point score, should increase from 15 points to 84 points.
And about. the minister also said that the implementation of the program of subsidizing agricultural loans will continue. At the same time, the maximum loan size from the current 4.2 million drams is planned to be increased to 5 million drams. Basically, small farms will be subsidized in order to bring them to the level of medium ones. In general, as of October of this year. a loan portfolio of 16 billion drams has already been formed. The state will also assist those farmers who register with the state land registry. This assistance will be directed to those villagers who are really engaged in business. At the same time, the state will no longer assist agricultural enterprises in acquiring seeds, fertilizers and diesel fuel. Instead, a compensation system is introduced, which will be 60 thousand drams for each hectare of land.
Work will also continue on the installation of anti-hail guns and nets.
And about. The minister stressed that at present, negotiations are underway with a network production plant established last year to reduce selling prices. This will cover a significant part of the country. The government will also offer farmers a choice between subsidizing projects in the field of drip irrigation and providing cheap loans.