ArmInfo. The Ministry of Economy is developing a food security strategy for Armenia. Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan announced this on the sidelines of the forum on the International Food Day, which took place in Yerevan on October 13.
He stressed that food security is one of the most important tasks to be solved today. "We cannot say that Armenia is in an ideal state in this sense," the minister said, recalling that at the beginning of the year the level of threat to food security increased sharply due to the embargo imposed by various countries.
He noted that at this stage, a food security strategy is being systematically developed, as a result of which the residents of Armenia will be fed in sufficient quantity, and more importantly, according to Kerobyan, they will be fed correctly. In this regard, he pointed to the enormous amount of work ahead. However, taking into account the initiative and activity of the Ministry of Economy, and attaching importance to all processes, the Minister expressed the hope that changes in this context will be noticeable in the foreseeable future.
At the same time, he noted the importance of ensuring food security along with ensuring the development of a sustainable and green economy, without harming the environment. In this regard, Kerobyan said that the government is drafting programs aimed at increasing the productivity of agriculture, increasing the level of profitability of farmers.
In particular, he noted that at today's meeting of the government a program will be adopted to enlarge land in 4 communities of Armenia.
"All these actions indicate that the government attaches importance not only to increasing the area of cultivated land, but also to ensuring that farmers are satisfied with the results obtained from these processes," the minister said.
It should be noted that during the forum, Armenian Environment Minister Tigran Gabrielyan, FAO Representative in Armenia Raimund Jehle, Head of the Yerevan Office of the Austrian Development Agency Klaus Kapper , Deputy Representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Ms Silvia Mestroni also delivered a welcoming speech. In June of this year, Minister of the Eurasian Economic Commission Artak Kamalyan said that the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union continue to have a positive trend in the development of the agro- industrial complex. "Our states at the expense of their own production fully cover domestic needs in grain, pork, vegetables and potatoes, vegetable oils, sugar and eggs. There is only a lack of fruits and berries>, he said, noting that the level of self-sufficiency in basic agricultural products and food reaches 93%. In terms of countries, according to the minister, the highest indicators of self-sufficiency were achieved in Belarus (94%) and Russia (90%), followed by Kazakhstan (83%) and Kyrgyzstan (81%). In Armenia, the level of self-sufficiency is 73%.
