Freshinfo , UK
June 26 2005
Apricots drive Armenian production
Armenia’s fruit crop will be significantly bigger this year, due to
unusually favorable weather conditions, according to the country’s
agriculture ministry.
Garnik Petrosian, head of the ministry’s fruit-growing department,
told local media that farmers across the country are expected to
collect nearly 400,000 tonnes of grapes, apples and other fruit, 54
per cent more than last year.
`We are now expecting a very big harvest,’ he said. `We will even
have trouble selling fruit.’ Petrosian added that apricots, estimated
to total 80,000t this year, will be responsible for most of the
anticipated gain.
A short but destructive spring cold snap limited the 2004 apricot
harvest to a comparatively modest 6,000t. Petrosian said that the
government also expects a sizable increase in the yields of key
vegetables such as potatoes and tomatoes.
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