Armenia needs $600 million to protect vineyards from phylloxera

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia needs $600 million to combat phylloxera and preserve vineyards, Head of wine-makers' Union Avag Harutyunyan told today a news conference in Yerevan. At that he noted that one of vineyards in Armenia is infected with phylloxera, but the process has been at active stage for the past 3-4 years. "To avoid losses Armenia will need $600 million for restoring vineyards, and that will be achieved in 5 years," he said.



According to Harutyunyan, Armenia will never have the sum, let alone that 99% of vineyards belong to rural population who don't have enough means. "Thus, Armenia faces the threat of total destruction of vineyards," he added.



Phylloxera (Viteus vitifolii) is a greenfly originally native to America. It had no significance there, however, penetrating to Europe it changed its biology, becoming an extremely dangerous vermin. First appearing in France, a country taking pride in its wine making industry, phylloxera caused major harm to its economy. Later, it spread to the east. Over the 30 years of its existence, the vermin has destroyed vineyards with a total area of 6 million hectares.