ArmInfo.The Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia has developed a fight with tomato moth program, which last year caused significant damage to the tomato crop. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Garnik Petrosyan announced this on May 20 during a press conference.
He stressed that the program has already acquired pheromone traps, which in the coming days will be introduced in 2 areas with the highest level of risk. Petrosyan noted that Ararat and Aramvir regions, where there are large areas of tomato plantings, were chosen as priority ones. After that, according to the official, pheromone traps will gradually be installed in other regions of Armenia.
In addition, according to the deputy head of the agricultural department, there is a pilot program with the Agrarian University, within the framework of which comprehensive activities will be carried out in two communities (Vosketap and Aknalich) to combat tomato moths. In conclusion, Petrosyan urged farmers not to be late in taking measures to combat moths, stressing that untimely steps are fraught with serious negative consequences.
According to the RA Statistics Committee, in 2018, tomato production in Armenia decreased by 41.8% to 133.6 thousand tons. At the same time, the area of plantings also decreased by 33.3% to 4,361 ha. According to the RA Customs Service, in 2018 Armenia increased tomato exports by 44.6% to 36.1 thousand tons, while the customs value increased by 71.5% to $ 23.2 million. At the same time, imports of tomatoes increased (both in quantitative and value terms) up to 2.6 thousand tons per $ 1 million.