CORN CROPS EXPECTED AT ABOUT 430,000 TONS IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Aug 14, 2009

YEREVAN, August 14. /ARKA/. Corn crops is expected to total about
430,000 tons in Armenia this year, the country’s Deputy Minister of
Agriculture Samvel Galstyan said.

Harvest is almost finished in lower parts of Armenia and Ararat
Valley and combines are now sent to mountainous regions for harvest,
he said adding that weather conditions delayed the process.

Cereal and grain crops cover a total of 172,000 hectares in Armenia
in 2008, Galstyan said. Against 415,000 tons of gross harvest of
grain and cereal corps in 2008, this year, according to preliminary
information, it is to total to 400-415,000 tons, including 200-210,000
tons of wheat crop.

A serious breakthrough should be achieved in seed farming to ensure
that high-quality seeds are grown in the country, the Deputy Minister
said.

If seed-farming works are carried out in a proper way, it will allow
growing up to 2,400 tons of high-quality seeds, Galstyan said.

Galstyan stressed that the country will manage to achieve a
breakthrough in this important field in the next three years to avoid
the last year situation when prices for cereals went up in 10 days
due to the situation in Georgia.

Today the demand for cereals is 700,000-750,000 tons with only half
of it produced in the country. Some 250,000-350,000 tons of wheat
are imported.

This means that much remains to be done to improv e the
self-sufficiency level in the field, Galstyan said adding that cereals
are imported mainly from Russia and Ukraine.