ArmInfo. The implementation period of Armenia's pilot program to support investment projects in the livestock sector will be extended. The decision was made at the RA government meeting on April 23.
As RA Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan noted in his speech, by a 2022 Cabinet decision, assistance will be provided to investors who invest at least 5 million drams in border areas and at least 1 billion drams in non-border areas. The state will reimburse them for 40% of all capital expenditures. The minister reported that both success stories and challenges have emerged during the program's implementation. In particular, Papoyan cited the 11.7 billion drams investment program, which has been fully completed, as a success story. Of this amount, the state has already repaid 2.3 billion drams, but the investor himself has paid 2.4 billion drams to the state treasury.
The minister noted that significant work has been done on four other investment programs. These include the Spitak Poultry Farm, the Araks Poultry Farm, Ijevan Bacon, and Dili LLC, which have invested a total of 15.2 billion drams. Given the challenges they have encountered, the Ministry of Economy is proposing to extend the program's implementation by 1.5 years. Following the appeal, the Ministry organized a meeting with the project beneficiaries, during which they presented information on the issues that arose during the project's implementation, specifically delays in infrastructure provision, changes in land use, environmental impact assessments, project coordination, and construction permitting procedures.
It should be noted that data analysis shows that over the past decade, supplies of poultry, and chicken in particular, to Armenia have steadily increased. Over the past five years, local production accounted for only 23-27% of chicken production, while pork self-sufficiency fluctuated between 45-54%. Eleven contracts with investment projects worth approximately 82.4 billion drams were signed under the program.
