US GOVERNMENT FUNDED MCA-ARMENIA PROGRAM DELIVERS WATER AND TRAINING TO FARMERS

armradio.am
07.05.2010 16:26

On May 7, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie L. Yovanovitch and Armenian
Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan opened 2.5 kilometers of the
8.5 kilometers that constitutes the Aygezard gravity irrigation
canal scheme (Ararat marz) rehabilitated under the Millennium
Challenge Account-Armenia (MCA-Armenia) Program. A farmer’s plot
at the 1.4 kilometer mark also was the scene for a number of other
important programmatic events, including the inauguration of the
200th Demonstration Site under MCA-Armenia’s Water-to-Market Activity.

Ambassador Yovanovitch and the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized
the impact of infrastructure rehabilitation on improving farming
practices and attitudes of farmers, including more effective irrigation
practices, transition to higher value agriculture, and ultimately-
increased profitability of Armenian farmers. They highlighted the
increased yields and other benefits that improved irrigation will
bring to Mr. Ashot Abrahamyan, a farmer who, through hard work and
ingenuity, has struggled to maintain his two hectares of apricot
orchards for 20 years, despite extreme scarcity of water. Over 11,
000 rural residents from Aygezard, Gintver and Nor Ughi communities
will benefit from the rehabilitation of this Aygezard gravity system.

Following the official speeches water was released into the completed
section of Aygezard gravity scheme, after which the dignitaries and
guests made a tour of the 200th Demonstration Site under MCA-Armenia’s
Water-to-Market activity, a drip irrigation system installed on a
hectare of apricot orchard.

This investment in Aygezard, is an important part of the 180 million
USD worth of agricultural assistance provided by the US Government
to Armenia through the Compact signed with the Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC) in 2006. When completed in September 2011, the
MCA-Armenia Program expects to have refurbished major sections
of Armenia’s main canal systems, modernized some of the most
urgently needed pumping stations, introduced new gravity irrigation
schemes, re-built tertiary canals in communities across Armenia
and restored sections of the Ararat Valley Drainage system. The
MCA-Armenia Program is also training nearly 45,000 farmers in improved
agriculture practices, delivering technical assistance to water supply
institutions and providing 8,5 million USD in credit to farmers and
small agribusinesses in support of the program objectives.