The decline of agriculture in Armenia this year is due to poor management. This is what President of the Agrarian-Rural Union of Armenia NGO Hrach Berberyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am when asked why Armenia has seen a decline in agriculture this year.

“The first mistake was the conglomeration of the Ministries of Economy and Agriculture. Today, Armenia doesn’t have a ministry to coordinate the agriculture sector. In addition, there are no good specialists since they have left the country or have been laid off. There are new people such as a person who used to work as a taxi driver in the United States. Unfortunately, taxi drivers or cameramen from Russia can’t help Armenia’s agriculture grow. Only a person who knows about agriculture in Armenia can help agriculture grow, and for that, one needs knowledge and experience, but unfortunately, they don’t have knowledge and experience,” he said.

Berberyan noted that this will lead to decrease in the amount of sowing areas for wheat and barley and the increase of import of grains.

“There are fewer sowing areas for potatoes as well. The Ministry of Agriculture isn’t leading a policy to promote potato farmer. I believe Pashinyan needs to make serious personnel changes,” he said.

This year, Armenia saw a decline in the agriculture sector. Based on the data provided by the Statistical Committee of Armenia, the amounts of the gross agriculture product dropped by 7.4% in January-June compared to the same period of the previous year, comprising AMD 247,951,000,000.