The Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Sergo Karapetyan was on tour to frontier marz of Tavush to check up on the situation with orchards cultivation, production and marketing, as reported by the press service of the Ministry.

The first stopover was Ptghavan community, where the Minister accompanied with the Marz Governor Hovik Abovyan was introduced to ongoing and accomplished works in the nectarine orchards established by the Fruit Armenia Company. On the whole, 24 ha of peach, nectarine, sweet cherry, walnut and plum orchards are established in Archis, Ptghavan and Debetavan communities of Tavush Marz with the Program funds.

Some two years ago the Fruit Armenia Company planted approx. 4.5 ha of nectarine and peach orchards in the plot owned by the farmer Spartak Ghazaryan. The Program financed the import of seedlings from Italy and installation of drip irrigation system. Soon hail nets will be installed as well. The farmer expressed its appreciation of the program outputs stating that the orchards are of intensive type, so nearly 5 tons per ha harvest is expected.

On site discussions were held with the heads of communities in Noyemberyan region concerning peach and grape harvesting, for which the Minister assured that no major problems would appear. He further mentioned: “This year good harvest of peach is expected in Tavush Marz, and the harvest of grape is expected 20-25% more than that of the last year.” As to the price, the Minister noted that the Ministry of Agriculture will be persistent that the prices be reasonable and mutually profitable.

The Minister paid visit to the dry fruit production unit of Viva Fruit LLC established in Bagratashen community with support of international organizations, which processes peach, black plum, pea and apricot. The Company Director Vigen Hovhannisyan stated that their production is ecologically clean and its main market is Russia.

Sergo Karapetyan also went to the olive garden established on 55 ha in Bagratashen community back in 1960-s. The farmer Tigran Bejanyan said that 4 types of olive is cultivated here and as a whole they are content with the prices and marketing. This year the yield of 10-11 tones is expected.

The Minister visited the farm of Armenak Gabrielyan in Archis community. The farmer grows peach on nearly 7000 sq m. This year the yield was appreciable.