ArmInfo. Due to climate warming, the air temperature rises every year, so today it is necessary to adapt to the expected new climatic conditions. A similar opinion was expressed by acting Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan.
In this regard, he pointed out the need to increase agricultural productivity. "This means that we have to grow crops using less water, in particular savings systems, including irrigation systems. In addition, it is necessary to fully re-equip the distribution water network>, he said. Kerobyan added that there is a need for a serious modernization of the latter , for which on behalf of the acting Prime Minister, a working group was formed to work on the development of a reform of the water sector.
With regard to water scarcity, he pointed out that the share of the blame in this context lies on the farmers themselves. In order to pay less, the latter can say that they are growing a crop that does not require large volumes of water resources, but in practice, the opposite is true. "I don't want to look for those responsible for the shortage of water now, but similar problems arise, including because of this approach of farmers," Kerobyan said.
To solve the current situation with water, acting Minister noted that the Committee for Water Resources developed a plan of specific measures and an operational headquarters was formed, which, in addition to him, included acting Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Suren Papikyan (Chairman of the Commission), Acting Minister of the Environment Romanos Petrosyan; Chairman of the Vodkhoz Karen Sargsyan; Director of Jrar CJSC Artashes Abgaryan.
"On a daily basis, we discuss the problems facing the water sector, trying to quickly solve them using the resources that we have today," he said.
To recall, at the end of June, residents of a number of villages in the Shirak region in the north-west of Armenia blocked the Yerevan-Gyumri highway, demanding to solve the problem with irrigation. The protesters say the heat and lack of rainfall are causing significant damage to agriculture, which could affect both the quality and the volume of the crop. Earlier, a similar action was held by farmers of the Armavir region. The problem of drought today is also noted in Gegharkunik. Big problems were registered in the Karnut reservoir, where the water horizon fell below the "dead level", which is unacceptable. Farmers have no water for a month. The head of the water farm Sargsyan could not clearly explain where the water delivered, although he said that the required volume of water was delivered to the reservoir. And the peasants assume that 20 million cubic meters of the water did not evaporate, but was provided to small hydroelectric power plants, the owners of which are "not random people".
