EFSE success stories. Yeghishe Gevorgyan: as a farmer, you are dependent on Mother Nature

EFSE success stories. Yeghishe Gevorgyan: as a farmer, you are dependent on Mother Nature

By 2009, Gevorgyan's barn had 18 cows, 7 heifers and 22 calves, while alfalfa production mainly covered his own needs.

Yeghishe Gevorgyan lives on the outskirts of Aragatsavan, a small village in Aragatsotn province of Armenia, just a few miles from the Turkish border. About a decade ago, he made a decision that changed his life. “At one point, I said to myself: ‘Yeghishe, if you don’t do something with this land, someone else will’,” Gevorgyan recollects.

PanARMENIAN.Net - What started as a hope and a prayer nine years ago has since matured into a respectable livestock enterprise.

“We took our family’s savings and signed a 25-year lease for 25 hectares of good land. We didn’t own any cattle then, but the farmers around us did. They needed forage, so we grew alfalfa and sold it to our neighbors. With the money we earned, we bought cattle,” Gevorgyan explains.

By 2009, his barn had 18 cows, 7 heifers and 22 calves, while alfalfa production mainly covered his own needs.

“As a farmer, you are dependent on Mother Nature. It’s tough sometimes, but it is what it is. My problem was that I was also dependent on the village irrigation system,” he says. “I discussed this with the people at ACBA and in no time at all, we got started on building a 1.1-kilometer waterline.”

The latest USD 22,000 loan enabled Gevorgyan to complete the waterline. Besides reducing his dependence on the village irrigation system, it also helps to conserve water, further curtailing costs.

Alfalfa production is up 100 per cent, too. Today, he has 50 cattle and is looking to further expand and hire more help.

In November 2013, the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) successfully launched cooperation with ACBA Leasing Credit Organization CJSC (ACBA Leasing) by providing a senior loan facility dedicated to MSE financing in the equivalent of EUR 2.5 million. The loan facility was aimed at supporting ACBA Leasing’s strategy to facilitate access to credit for MSEs, including agricultural producers and individual farmers, especially in the country’s rural areas.

ACBA Leasing Credit Organization CJSC is the first registered specialized leasing company in Armenia. ACBA Leasing was founded on March 30, 2003 by one of the leading institutions of the Armenian banking sector, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, and the French Credit Agricole Group, acting via its subsidiary Credit Agricole Leasing & Factoring, considered the leader of the leasing and factoring market in France.

The project is sponsored by the European Fund for Southeast Europe

Lusine Mkrtumova/ PanARMENIAN.Net
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