Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan left for Armavir and Aragatsotn marzes on a working visit. The Prime Minister first called at the Yerevan Brandy Company’s Armavir branch and got acquainted with the process of grapes procurement.
The Head of Government watched the whole circuit: weighing, quality control, sugar checking and recycling. The Premier also called at the expanded and upgraded distillation workshop, which was replenished with 10 pairs of disperse distributing devices, each with a capacity of 100,000 liters of wine per day. The executives advised that as of September 16, the YBC Armavir branch has purchased 5,153 tons of grapes and more than 8,194 tons in 3 branches.
During the tour, the Prime Minister discussed with the company’s leadership issues regarding the purchase of grapes, as well as the effectiveness of anti-hail protection system. A decision was made to revise the deadline for declaring the grape purchase price, namely next year, the Yerevan Brandy Company will announce the purchase price of grapes no later than in the month of April in 2019. The price will be at least as high as the level of inflation in the country.
In a briefing with journalists, Nikol Pashinyan stated, in particular: “We have to constantly show farmers how to make profit, so that the burden does not go on the shoulders of the businessmen. We should try to make sure that farmers are not interested in selling the whole crop, and rather take a more profitable route – recycling and so on.”
In the context of brandy and winemaking development in Armenia, Prime Minister Pashinyan attached importance to the steps aimed at improving grape varieties. “We have a lot of grapes in the Ararat Valley, purchased at the rate of 430 drams. We face a planning and sort swapping problem. We need to help our farmers change the grapes varieties step by step rather than act in the role of petitioners. Today, we have a serious grape deficit in wine production. You can imagine that the grapes are bought for more than 400 drams, and the farmer does not have the grapes that are bought for 400 drams, they offer grapes purchased at 130-140 drams. That is to say, we have to increase the efficiency of square meters of land, and the government should be here to provide advice and support for certain instruments,” the Prime Minister said.
According to the Prime Minister, this factor negatively affects not only the purchase price, but also the volume of exports, the reputation of the brandy brandy, and the solution of the discussed issues should be considered in the whole chain.
“There is no separate solution here. This is a closed circuit, and we must deal with all of its chains individually. In any case, the solution is to observe legitimacy,” Nikol Pashinyan said. The Head of Government noted that according to some alarms sounded so far, there are factories that are not grape harvesters, but publish mere figures; they are actually importing alcohol, but make believe of having bought grapes and obtained alcohol from grapes. Prime Minister Pashinyan stressed that he would instruct the relevant authorities to check the accuracy of these alerts.
The Premier left Armavir Marz for Aragatsotn, where he visited Golden Grape Armas Company. Since 2007, the Company has acquired 180 hectares of land, constructed wine and brandy factory – vineyards were established on 110 hectares, cognac, wine and table grape varieties were cultivated, and 40 hectares of land occupy fruit orchards – peaches, plums, apple, apricot and cherry. The Company is going to build a cannery, a livestock farm, a fish farm and a dormitory for its employees. All these facilities will be surrounded by an artificial lake which is under construction now.
The Head of Government toured the parks to get acquainted with the activities and the anti-hail protection system. The management briefed the Prime Minister on the plant’s production capacity, storage and recycling facilities and the development programs.
It was noted that the production capacity of the plant can be up to 1,000 t of grapes a year, with the output to be marketed in the US, Europe, China and Japan in addition to the domestic market. Work is being done to expand the geography of sales markets. It was also mentioned that Golden Grape Armas is implementing a program for the development of agro tourism through seminars, guided tours, tasting events, expositions and cultural events.
Prime Minister Pashinyan next met with the participants of the international conference organized by the Central Bank of Armenia as part of celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Armenian dram’s introduction. Accompanied by his spouse Anna Hakobyan, Nikol Pashinyan attended a reception hosted to that end.