Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today held a regular consultation on the government’s anti-crisis action plan. The discussion focused on agriculture support programs and long-term development prospects. The meeting was attended by the heads of the agencies concerned, MPs, experts, banking system and civil society representatives.

Addressing those present, Prime Minister Pashinyan noted:
“Dear colleagues,

This is the format in which we discuss our anti-crisis efforts. Given the priority attached to agriculture, we wanted to talk to those engaged in the farming sector in order to understand the steps to take ahead, identify the problems that call for prompt response from both the short-term, medium-term and strategic perspectives.”

The Prime Minister gave the floor to Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan, who touched on the framework of state support programs for the development of agriculture and the overall loan portfolio. The minister came up with a number of proposals on the development of individual industries, which featured livestock development, horticulture and other programs. The need to expand the government’s toolkit and the amount of support, as well as the possibility of providing increased lending and other topical issues were discussed during the meeting.

Information was provided on the lending process going on as part of the government’s third anti-crisis action: about 7000 predominantly online applications have been received, the bulk of which has to do with farm micro-credits of up to 1 million drams.

For a week now, loans have been disbursed online through the scoring system. Monitoring has shown that state support programs have resulted in higher market demand for agricultural loans. According to expert forecasts, lending will be stepped up this year as compared to 2019.

A number of proposals and the steps to take in the current situation were discussed during the exchange of views that followed. Reference was made to several key issues, such as lending efficiency and volumes, as well as the expected multiplier effect - productivity growth, promotion of farms and so on.

The expediency of farm consolidation was raised in the context of long-term development and efficiency. A number of suggestions and comments were made on the abovementioned topics. Work on forecasting the agricultural season was touched upon during the meeting. The Prime Minister was given operative information on the demand for fertilizers, irrigation water, diesel fuel, as well as on the necessary supply volumes and pricing processes.

The speakers noted that the supply of inputs can meet the market demand. The Head of Government instructed those responsible to keep in focus the preparations for the agricultural campaign and to monitor their proper implementation.

Summing up the meeting, Nikol Pashinyan thanked the participants for effective discussion, stressing that the Government will explore the proposals and comments presented. Touching on the projected farm consolidation, the Premier said it stands high on the Government’s agenda and suggested setting a task force to discuss further steps in that direction.