Armenia faces serious downturn in agriculture

Armenia is facing an agricultural crisis, and the reasons are not related to deteriorating agricultural ties with Russia but to what critics describe as ill-considered government policies in management, staffing and oversight.

Armenian authorities forecast a significant decline in the country’s agricultural sector by the end of 2026, but the drop could be much larger than expected, former Deputy Agriculture Minister Ashot Harutyunyan said.

He said the decline would be a result of systemic problems in managing the sector, including a lack of professional planning, staffing issues and the absence of analysis of the effectiveness of state programmes. This includes the development of intensive orchards, for which, he said, authorities failed to calculate future harvest volumes or market opportunities.

“It was a programme of reckless spending of state funds without planning the expected volume of harvests. A large number of orchards were established, which were designed more for wealthy than for ordinary farmers,”

- Ashot Harutyunyan said.