Crops in Armenia are expected to be rich this year, Armenian Deputy Agriculture Minister Samvel Galstyan said on Friday without mentioning particular figures.

He told journalists that unlike 2014, this year was marked by very favorable for agriculture, and therefore rich harvest is expected in the country this year, especially apricot and grape crops. In his words, cropland is expected to be increased by 15 or 16 hectares.

"It means cropland will grow from 332,766 hectares to 338,600 hectares," the deputy minister said adding that cropland in Armenia is growing by 13-15 hectares every year, and it grew by 49.2 hectares over the last four years.

Galsyan also stressed the importance of the programs of import of fertilizers, under which fertilizers are brought to the country and provided to farmers at low prices.

Speaking about indicators in 2014, the deputy minister said only apricot crop fell in 2014 because of freezing weather, but other crops increased instead.

According to the Armenian agriculture ministry, 296,100 tons of fruits and berries were produced in the country in 2014. This is by 42,000 tons less than the 2013 result.

The decline was mostly due to the damage inflicted by retarded frost to apricot and nut trees.

But despite that, crops of other fruits were larger in 2014 than in the previous year – the country had 258,000 tons of grapes in 2014 against 240,800 tons in 2013.

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com