Agriculture does not merely feed our people; it is one of the most important pillars of our country’s national security. In today’s volatile and unpredictable world, no nation can secure its future without a stable, well-designed agricultural strategy and a steadily developing agricultural production system.
Armenia’s climatic and geographical conditions make it possible to develop sustainable and diversified agriculture. Therefore, state policy in this sector must become one of our foremost national priorities.
STATE POLICY IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
. Re-establish the Ministry of Agriculture.
2. Transform rural life from a means of survival into a source of prosperity and sustainable income. Farming must become a profitable and respected occupation.
3. Significantly improve the quality of rural life by strengthening cultural, educational, healthcare, and other essential public services.
4. Ensure targeted state investments in agriculture to reduce poverty and slow population outflow from rural communities.
5. Agriculture requires a dedicated state policy and cannot be treated as an ordinary branch of a market economy. It performs at least four critical national functions:
a. Ensuring food security
b. Supporting employment and reducing poverty
c. Promoting balanced and sustainable regional development
d. Creating a raw-material base for processing industries and exports
6. Develop comprehensive regional development programs for all ten regions of Armenia, taking into account historically established production and agricultural specialization. Sectoral priorities should focus on creating high-productivity jobs, introducing high technologies and digital services, and developing modern machinery and tractor service stations.
7. Create conditions enabling farmers to sell their products profitably year-round, through guaranteed market access and modern collection and procurement centers equipped with packaging, refrigeration, and storage infrastructure, ensuring reliable and efficient product commercialization.
8. Improve operational efficiency in rural communities by establishing full value chains in livestock production, particularly in milk and meat markets, including proper distribution of slaughterhouses and improved service quality.
9. The state should participate in major investment programs with a 25–30% equity share, ensuring stable market access for goods and services during the first five years. After businesses become sustainable, the state’s share should be transferred to entrepreneurs.
10. Fundamentally reform water management governance, eliminating intermediary structures, reducing irrigation water costs, and strengthening trust between water suppliers and users. Within the next three years, irrigation water fees should be set at 1,000 AMD per hectare.
11. Address excessive credit burdens. For years, loan obligations have placed thousands of citizens at risk of losing their property, particularly due to consumer and agricultural loans where penalties often exceed principal amounts. The state, together with the Central Bank, must introduce phased regulations including penalty relief, credit holidays, and debt restructuring. Interest rates on agricultural loans should not exceed 2.5–3%.
The state must play an active role in regulating agricultural relations in Armenia.
Key Principles
• The state should not intervene where markets function effectively, but it must intervene where markets undermine food security or producers’ incomes.
• Food security means guaranteeing minimum domestic production of essential goods and resilience against external shocks.
• Agriculture is an element of national security, not merely a market sector.
• Agricultural exports begin not at the customs checkpoint, but in the field, the orchard, and the farm.
Key Determinants of Agricultural Effectiveness in Armenia
Irrigation — the Foundation of the Sector
Priority must be given to physical infrastructure, effective governance, fair distribution, loss reduction, and energy efficiency.
Subsidies and Insurance
Subsidies and insurance should function as a unified risk-management mechanism rather than fragmented measures.
Agricultural Machinery
The priority is accessibility — through leasing systems and service centers — rather than ownership.
Fertilizers and Production Inputs
The role of the state is not price control, but ensuring accessibility, stability, and predictability.
Product Commercialization: The Market as the Center of Policy
Domestic Market
Under equal conditions of quality and price, priority should be given to local production.
Exports
Exports are a result of development, not an objective in themselves.
Quality and Certification
To access not only EAEU but also EU markets, Armenia must establish:
• modern laboratories
• certification and compliance centers.