ArmInfo.At a meeting on January 23, the Armenian government approved the Strategy and measures to increase the efficiency of the use of agricultural land. As RA Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan noted in his speech, within the framework of the Strategy, it is envisaged to carry out 8 activities, of which they will be implemented before the end of the second quarter of 2020, and the rest within 2-3 years. It is envisaged, in particular, to complete the process of mapping land of agricultural importance, evaluate it, identify the amount of unused land, offer farmers, depending on the region, to sow specific crops on the used areas, conduct periodic monitoring of land use efficiency. In this regard, it is also envisaged to create an electronic platform on which all legal acts, including legislative ones, will be placed. The proposed activities, as noted by the Minister, will increase interest in this type of business, as well as improve the quality of land use.
In turn, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, pointing out the importance of this decision, noted that many lands of agricultural significance are not used due to the fact that their owners are either located outside the republic or moved to cities. Now it is proposed at the legislative level to return these lands to the state with the right to pay rent to their owners. In turn, the state will transfer these lands to interested parties. But to do this, as the prime minister noted, it is necessary to transparently search for compromise solutions. At the same time, it is also important to conduct a state assessment of land by category so that the rent matches the quality of the land.
It should be noted that in Armenia almost half of the agricultural land is not used due to the lack of owners, which affects the volume of agricultural production.
