Artsakh Republic Minister of Agriculture Aram Mkhoyan convened a press conference, during which first of all he introduced the work done in the field of agriculture in 2016, then talked about the projects and activities envisaged and already implemented in 2017.
“Despite the fact that the agricultural sector was paralyzed in April-May last year conditioned by war, we ended the year with record results. We had an unprecedented 150 thousand tons of grain crops, high index of spring crops: about 7500 hectares, doubling of the tobacco plantations, from 80 hectares to more than 150 hectares. We had some progress in the irrigation system. Especially irrigation was regulated and during the year we mainly did not receive complaints by water users. We have also implemented many new technologies in the field”, says the Minister, adding that “the projects that were originally developed, we were able to implement during 2016”.
Referring to the activities envisaged and already implemented in 2017, Aram Mkhoyan noted, that 2017 fall wheat and barley crops were done in the same amount as the previous year (58500 hectares of sowing areas).
“Now we should be happy to note that in terms of grain crops we already exceeded the 150 thousand tons of last year. Last year we also had that number along with buckwheat and corn crops. This year only wheat, barley and spelt crops are estimated at 150,000 tons, and another 15,000 tons are still expected, as there are still about 3,000 hectares of sowing areas. This indicates that we have exceeded the previous year’s index by 10 percent, without raising the number of”, clarifies Aram Mkhoyan.
According to him, this year was also unprecedented in terms of spring crops. The previous year’s index of spring sowing areas was doubled, totalling 15,000 hectares, compared to 7500 hectares of the previous year.
David ABAGHYAN
