Government data shows that agricultural output stagnated in 2022 in sharp contrast with other sectors of the Armenian economy that strongly benefited from soaring trade with and cash flows from Russia.
The government’s Statistical Committee reported a 5.7 percent increase in aggregate crop production despite significant decreases in the country’s vegetable and grape output.
Meat and dairy production shrunk by 5 percent. The country’s livestock population was down by about 10 percent, reflecting a widespread culling of cattle by struggling farmers.
They include Samvel Matevosian, a once affluent resident of Berkashat, a village in Armenia’s Armavir province bordering Turkey. Matevosian owns 60 hectares of pastures and farmland and a large cattle farm that used to have several dozen cows. Only four adult cows remain there now.
“In 2017, this and the adjacent barns were full [of cattle,]” Matevosian said grimly. “I’ve culled them because [animal husbandry] is not profitable anymore.”
For the same reason, he stopped cultivating his 8-hectare vineyard last year and is still no rush to grow other crops there.
Not surprisingly, Armenia’s imports of meat, dairy and even some vegetables rose in 2022.
“We can say that Armenia further reduced its food self-sufficiency in 2022,” said Suren Parsian, an economist critical of the government.
Parsian acknowledged that “objective” factors such as fighting along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan, which seriously disrupted agricultural activity in nearby communities, also contributed to this trend.
But he insisted that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government, which controversially abolished the Ministry of Agriculture in 2019, is primarily responsible for it. The official statistics testifies to the failure of limited loan subsidies and other agricultural support programs promoted by the authorities in recent years.
The Ministry of Economy, which is in charge of agriculture, declined to comment on the lack of growth in a sector that generated about one-fifth of Armenia’s Gross Domestic Product until recently. The sector’s share in GDP fell to below 12 percent last year, according to the Statistical Committee.
Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian has repeatedly stated that rural residents unable to live off farming or cattle breeding should find other sources of income instead of clamoring for government support.
But for farmers like Matevosian agriculture is much more than a business. “If agriculture collapses we’ll all collapse too,” he warned.