UN FAO PLEDGES FRESH ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIAN AGRICULTURE
ARMENPRESS
March 31, 2008
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS: Armenian agricultural minister David
Lokian and Maria Kadlecikova, UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s
(FAO) sub-regional representative for Europe and Central Asia, met
the other day in Budapest, Hungary to discus prospects for cooperation
between FAO and Armenia.
In a press release the Armenian ministry quoted David Lokian as
commending FAO for its technical assistance to Armenia. He said Armenia
emphasizes the continuity of FAO-funded projects, especially in terms
of ensuring sustainable agricultural development.
He suggest that FAO looks into Armenia’s capacities of increasing
drastically cultivation of grains, especially corn and wheat and
giving a boost to production of milk and poultry.
The ministry said Lokian and Kadlecikova signed agreements on
implementation of two programs in Armenia. The first program with the
budget of $500,000 is to deal with introducing an effective control
over African Swine Fever, a disease that killed thousands of pigs
in Armenia last year and the second, worth $454,000 will deal with
strengthening biotechnology and bio-safety capacities.
Kadlecikova was quoted as saying that FAO will soon sign a set of
agreements with Armenia on cattle development ($500,000), forest
recovery ($500,000), construction of butcheries ($1.1 million),
creation of a pesticide testing laboratory ($1.4 million), and IT
development ($500,000).
According to her, FAO will also give an extra $100,000 to back up
the ongoing food safety capacities strengthening program.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
