Wednesday, October 31 2018 13:10

ArmInfo. Starting next year, the Armenian Trinity Canyon Vineyards Winery, which is the beneficiary of the The Organic Agriculture Support Initiative (OASI)  program, funded by the EU, will start exporting organic wine. The  executive director of the plant, Hovakim Saghatelyan, told  journalists about this as part of a study tour with the EU delegation  to Vayots Dzor region.

Answering the question of ArmInfo, H.. Saghatelyan noted that since  the time of its foundation, an organic wine has been produced at the  winery, but production has received certification only this year. The  vast majority of products is exported to a number of European  countries - Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United  States, and is sold in specialized stores in the domestic market. On  average, the total production is 30 thousand bottles per year.

 

To note the vineyard "Trinity" was founded in 2009 in Areni on the  territory adjacent to one of the oldest wine regions in the world.  The production process itself has been launched since 2013.

To note Karine Sargsyan, marketing specialist of the OASI (The  Organic Agriculture Support Initiative ) program of the Austrian  Development Agency, said earlier that in the GDP structure the share  of agriculture is 20%, of which only 0.01% is organic. The expert  attributed low production volumes to the lack of public awareness  about the benefits of organic production, which certainly affects the  level of consumption. At the same time, K. Sargsyan noted that  Armenian organic products are ahead of the quality of producers in  European countries, taking into account the climatic conditions and  the number of sunny days.

OASI was launched in Armenia in January 2015 and is being implemented  by the Austrian Development Agency with EU funding. The initiative is  aimed at the development of organic agriculture and the sale of  organic products in Armenia both in the domestic and foreign markets.  The total program budget is 3.3 million euros.

According to the latest data of the RA Customs Service, in 2017  Armenia exported 2.8 million liters of wine, with an annual growth of  50.5%, while the customs value grew by 81% to $ 10.78 million.