Pashinyan says agricultural lands should be consolidated to attract investments

YEREVAN, November 24. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today in order to attract investments for the agriculture it is necessary to consolidate the fragmented land plots.

"Land fragmentation appears to be the most serious problem for the development of agriculture and attraction of investments. All calculations show that in order to have efficient agriculture, it is necessary to possess and cultivate larger land plots. But today, as a result of privatization, our lands are divided into small parcels," Pashinyan said in an online questions and answers session with the citizens.

Pashinyan noted that investors want to make large investments but are unable to do so because there are practically no land plots large enough in the country. When trying to buy a few small plots from individuals, another problem arises: the plots have a large number of owners, some of whom are not in the country and some others have already passed away.

"Right now we are running a pilot program to consolidate land plots, trying to work with our villagers to get them to lease their land to large investors, or help with the sale of plots," he said. -0-