Despite strong growth in agriculture reported by the Armenian government, the number of people involved in the sector has declined considerably in the last few years, according to official statistics.
Figures from the National Statistical Service (NSS) show that there were a total of 338,000 farmers and other agricultural workers in Armenia last year, down from 437,200 in 2012.
This decrease calls into question separate NSS data showing that Armenian agricultural output rose by an average 6.3 percent annually between 2012 and 2016. Armenia’s economy grew by an average of 3.5 percent in that period.
Economic growth in the country all but ground to a halt last year. Finance Minister Vartan Aramian attributed the slowdown to a revised calculation of domestic agricultural production which was carried out shortly after last fall’s government reshuffle in Yerevan.
The previous Armenian cabinet claimed until then that both the agricultural sector and the economy as a whole are on track to grow in 2016. The NSS reported in January that the sector generating less than one-fifth of Gross Domestic Product contracted by over 5 percent last year. Government officials blamed the drop on unfavorable weather conditions.
Agricultural output shrank by 1.4 percent in the first half of this year following an unusually cold winter, government data show.
“The plight of our villagers is very difficult now,” Agriculture Minister Ignati Arakelian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) last week. Arakelian, who was appointed in October, said the mostly subsistence farmers are struggling to grow the right crops and sell them at a profit.
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