Agricultural growth at 9.5% in Armenia in 2012, head of parliament commission says
29.01.2013,
14:10
Agricultural growth stood at 9.5% in Armenia in 2012, head of parliament commission for finance, credit and budget issues, member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Gagik Minasyan told journalists Saturday.
YEREVAN, January 29. /ARKA/. Agricultural growth stood at 9.5% in Armenia in 2012, head of parliament commission for finance, credit and budget issues, member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Gagik Minasyan told journalists Saturday.
This rate has been achieved due to Armenian government’s rural policy and increase of cultivated land over the last years, Minasyan said.
In particular, the government was directly subsidizing farms, providing them with diesel fuel and fertilizers at prices below the market price, creating better taxation conditions for import and maintenance of agricultural equipment, according to Minasyan.
Earlier, Armenian minister of agriculture Sergo Karapetyan stated that Armenia’s agricultural output amounted to about 789.9bln drams over 11 months of 2012, which is an 8.3% increase against the same period of the year before. Karapetyan also said that agriculture’s share in the country’s GDP has increased to 21% as of the end of 2012, against 20.2% in 2011 and 17% in 2010.
According to operational data, cereal crops output totaled 455,000 tons in 2012, a 3.3% increase over the last year level. Potato production output was 630,000 tons (13% increase) in the period. Vegetable and grapes production outputs were 849,000 tons (7.8% increase) and 242,000 tons (5.4%) respectively. ($1=406.29drams). -0-
