Former Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Ashot Arutyunyan expressed concern about the significant reduction in the area of arable land used in the republic.
At a forum dedicated to the theme of "Security and Economic Development," Arutyunyan noted that in 2015, 351 thousand hectares of arable land out of the available 446 thousand hectares were cultivated. However, at present, according to him, the Statistical Committee reports only about 200 thousand hectares of cultivated land, as reported by the ARKA news agency.
The former deputy minister expressed doubts about the figures presented by the statistical committee.
Regarding the role of agriculture in Armenia's economy, he noted that in the record-breaking year of 2016, gross production in the sector exceeded 1 trillion 212 billion 600 million drams, which approached 14-16% of GDP. "And if we consider the processing industry, this figure would approach 20%," he added.
According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in 2023, gross production in the agricultural sector, forestry, and fisheries amounted to more than 1 trillion drams. Compared to the previous year, there was almost no growth.
