Arsen Bazikyan: Armenia`s agriculture is transforming into  agribusiness

ArmInfo.. There is no need to rush to conclusions that agriculture is experiencing a crisis; the sector is now being transformed into agribusiness, so time is needed. Arsen Bazikyan, President at Lessor's Association of Armenia, expressed a similar opinion in a conversation with an ArmInfo correspondent.

According to him, agriculture was perceived as a branch separate from  the economy in the past. "But this is part of the economy, which we  consider to be agribusiness, and we urge farmers to change their  attitude, to treat this sector as a business that requires  investments, calculations, and knowledge," the head of the  Association emphasized.

He noted that understanding the need for the abovementioned, the  Association  is working towards raising awareness among farmers,  which will allow them to expand their activities rather than increase  the credit burden from year to year.  Speaking about the leasing  portfolio, the volume of which totaled 200 billion drams in 2023,  Bazikyan noted that compared to last year, an increase of 70% was  recorded. "And there are growth trends," he noted.

However, according to the head of the Association, the achieved  indicators are not an end in themselves.  The organization's priority  is to re-equip entrepreneurs with the latest technologies.  "Therefore, I would not like to make any assessment that agriculture  is experiencing a crisis. Now we need to understand that a change in  the culture of agriculture is taking place," he concluded.

According to the RA Statistics Committee, the gross agricultural  output of Armenia decreased by 0.3% year-on-year, to 948 billion  drams. In 2022, the sector showed stagnant growth of 0.4%, slightly  exceeding the threshold of 1 trillion drams, in 2021 - a decline of  1.1% was recorded to 933 billion drams.

Notably, Vahan Kerobyan, who previously served as the Minister of  Economy of Armenia, stated according to the Government's plan, it is  planned to increase the gross output of agriculture to 1.4 trillion  drams for 2021-2026. 

"It is obvious that we will exceed this indicator and therefore, we  will make appropriate changes to the program of measures in order to  set higher goals for future years," he said.

In 2023, the agricultural budget of Armenia totaled 37 billion drams,  but expenses reached 47 billion drams. Compared to 2018, budget  allocations for the agro-industrial complex of Armenia increased  7-fold, but the sector did not register significant growth.