FAO: CRISIS AFFECTED AGRICULTURE IN CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPE

ARKA
May 13, 2010
YEREVAN

Global crisis affected agriculture in the countries of Central and
East Europe, said Jacques Diouf, General Director of FAO in Yerevan.

Armenian National Statistic Service informs that the highest indicator
of the decline of produced agricultural products in Armenia is
registered in the first quarter of 2009 – 5.1% compared with the same
indicator of 2008. By the results of the year it made 0.1% compared
with the same period in 2008.

"Countries of the region face big economic difficulties, including
reduction of export markets, flow of money transfer and private
funding", said Diouf on Thursday during the opening of 27th regional
conference of FAO.

Volume of hunger increased during the last three years due to reduction
of investments in agriculture and abrupt price reduction of food.

"It deepens due to financial-economic crisis which negatively affected
in all the parts of the planet", he said.

Starting from 1998 about 50 million people in the region of Central
and East Europe could manage to successfully overcome poverty which
was conditioned by total growth of income.

"In Central Asia the number of people suffering from hunger was
reduced from 9.3 million in 2000-2002 to 5.8 million in 2004-2006 and
agriculture played a key role in poverty reduction of the countries
of Europe and Central Asia", said Diouf.

In 2009 the number of starving people increased by 105 million in
the world compared with the last year reaching 1 billion people.

In two-day conference taking part in Yerevan, 160 representatives from
45 countries of Europe and Central Asia and international organizations
participate. ($1 – 389.47 drams).