VEGETABLE CROPS GROWING DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

The article touches upon the development trends of vegetable growing during the last two decades in RA and shows that vegetable growing is one of the most important and intensively developing branches of agriculture.
Vegetable crops used to make 4% of the total crops on the eve of agrarian reforms (1990), whereas the rate was 8.7% in 2011. In the same period production volume doubled, increasing from 389.7 to 789.3 thousand tons.
By the way, production growth owes mostly to intensive factors, as crop yield has increased by 46%. Nevertheless, our studies show, that the production development potential of the Republic’s vegetable growing sector is not fully utilized.
The sector has a number of main issues and upon solving those issues vegetable growing will become one of the most profitable agricultural sectors and will contribute to the income increase of the farmers and the reduction of poverty.
In particular, the following issues have been discussed:

• Promotion of innovation development in the field of vegetable growing, namely, improvement of selection and seed breeding using modern technologies, upgrade of sorts and cultivars in line with the market demand;
• Targeted state support for the establishment of marketing logistic support for fresh and processed vegetable products;
• Improvement of vegetable growing system and the increase in the share of plants ensuring high added value;
• Optimal distribution of vegetable growing in marzes and adoption of beneficial organizational-economic conditions for diversification;
• Development of legal-contractual system for long-term cooperation among vegetable growing farmers, processing and exporting companies.
• The solution of the stated, though not all the existing issues will be an incentive for the efficient development of the fields of vegetable growing and food processing.

Eurasian Symposium on Vegetables and Greens

S. Avetisyan , A. Avetisyan

vegetable growing, pharmacy, marketing logistic support

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1033.1