Agriculture ministry: Shirak region ensures 25% of grain production in Armenia

ArmInfo. Armenia's Shirak region ensures 25% of total grain production (mainly wheat) in the country, Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan said while visiting the region on August 18.

"Last year, the region produced 92,600 tons of grain and plans to increase this indicator by 6,000-7,000 tons this year," Karapetyan said. According to the Ministry press-office, the minister visited the buckwheat sown areas in the local Arapi community. Deputy Head of the Shirak region, Haroutiun Arshakyan said 510ha of buckwheat is sown in 6 regions of Armenia under European Neighborhood Policy for Agriculture and Rural Development, of which 240ha in Shirak region. "This year, we plan to collect 20-30 dt/ha of buckwheat in average this year," he said.

According to the National Statistical Service, gross agricultural produce increased 3.2% to 268/3bln drams in the 1st half of 2016 versus250bln drams for the same period of 2015.