Control of weed and pest killer chemicals quality and quantity needs a reform: agriculture ministry

YEREVAN, November 17, /ARKA /. A deputy Armenian minister of agriculture said today control over the quality and quantity of weed and pest killer chemicals used in Armenia needs a reform. Deputy minister Levon Rukhian was speaking at a conference in Yerevan on control of weed and pest killer chemicals and promotion of monitoring of their residual quantity.

The conference was organized by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in cooperation with Armenian ministry of agriculture to help the latter to asses the current level of control of pesticides and weed killer chemicals and prospects for development in this area.

Levon Rukhian said fighting pests and weeds is a key condition for harvesting high quality crops, but he added that apart from a positive impact pest and weed killer chemicals affect the environment, people and animals. He said reforms are needed because the quantity and variety of pest and weed killer chemicals used in Armenia are growing

He said in 2007 the Armenian ministry of agriculture had asked the Greek government to help reform this sector. The Greek government said it was ready to finance a relating project, which was approved on 2009 February in the amount of $2 million. The deputy minister said the conference is supposed to help implement this program more effectively.

Greek ambassador to Armenia, Yannis Korinthios, said his government has been assisting Armenia since 1993. He said he was happy that that assistance helps raise the prosperity of the Armenian people.

According to him, the program is very important for rural communities and will help their residents to protect their fields from pests and weeds and raise the quality of agricultural goods. -0-