ARMENIA NEEDS $600 MILLION TO PROTECT VINEYARDS FROM PHYLLOXERA
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
16.11.2009 16:20 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia needs $600 million to combat phylloxera
and preserve vineyards, Head of wine-makers’ Union Avag Harutyunyan
told today a news conference in Yerevan. At that he noted that one
of vineyards in Armenia is infected with phylloxera, but the process
has been at active stage for the past 3-4 years. "To avoid losses
Armenia will need $600 million for restoring vineyards, and that will
be achieved in 5 years," he said.
According to Harutyunyan, Armenia will never have the sum, let alone
that 99% of vineyards belong to rural population who don’t have
enough means. "Thus, Armenia faces the threat of total destruction
of vineyards," he added.
Phylloxera (Viteus vitifolii) is a greenfly originally native
to America. It had no significance there, however, penetrating
to Europe it changed its biology, becoming an extremely dangerous
vermin. First appearing in France, a country taking pride in its wine
making industry, phylloxera caused major harm to its economy. Later,
it spread to the east. Over the 30 years of its existence, the vermin
has destroyed vineyards with a total area of 6 million hectares.