ArmInfo. Despite the damage caused by the hailstorm and continued drought, the agrarian sector of Armenia registered tangible growth, Armenian Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan said at today's press conference when summing up the results of the past 7 months.
The minister said that the year has proved to be successful for the agrarian sector: the gross agricultural output of Armenia has grown by 14.4% to 328.4 billion AMD, the yield of the grain crops has made up 33 centners per hectare (versus 22.4 centners per hectare in 2010). A total of 23.000 tons of vegetables and 11.800 tons of fruit have been harvested, with these indices being much higher than in 2014. In 2015, the grape yield has exceeded all expectations. "The entire harvest will be procured and about 3,000 tons have already been exported," said the minister.
Karapetyan pointed out that in July-August the heat damaged the crops under glass, particularly, tomatoes. However, this year the area of the farmlands has increased by 18.5 thsd hectares to 351.3 thsd hectares, or 78.5% of 447 thsd hectares of the usable lands and this has compensated for the loss.
This year the hailstorm affected a total of 78 communities, with the damage caused by the hailstorm being about 7 bln AMD (twice as little as in 2014). Karapetyan said that last year 80 extra anti-hail systems were installed in Armenia. This process will be continued this year. The minister urged the farmers to introduce up-to-date and efficient means of anti-hail protection.
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