Poverty reduction in Armenia possible through boosting agricultural production

PanARMENIAN.Net - The FAO provided USD 1,8 million funding to Armenia in 2008-2009. This year, USD 40 thousand was provided for Nubarashen pesticide waste burial place research laboratory. USD 600 thousand is supposed to be allocated for development of seed farming, USD 2 million for upgrading laboratories and USD 1.6 thousand for construction of new facilities for cattle slaughter. Struggle against brucellosis is also among FAO priority programs.

The Europe and Central Asia region has achieved striking success in fighting poverty and food insecurity over the last ten years, with agriculture playing a key role. But the international financial and economic crisis could threaten that process FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said.

“The financial and economic crisis could adversely affect the progress and the significant improvement in living standards that have been achieved in the region in the last decade. FAO studies have shown that the crisis has weakened agriculture, particularly in the countries of Central and East Europe. In addition, World Bank estimates show that Europe and Central Asia is the region that has been hit hardest by the crisis,” he said.

“Since 1998, some 50 million people in the Europe and Central Asia region have succeeded in moving out of poverty – a striking example of success in fighting poverty and food insecurity. In Central Asia, the number of people suffering from hunger fell by 38 percent from 9.3 million in 2000-2002 to 5.8 million in 2004-2006... Agriculture has played a key role. History showed that “there is no more powerful engine for stimulating growth and eradicating hunger and poverty than investment in agriculture. But sufficient financial resources were needed. Globally $44 billion a year of Official Development Assistance was required to finance modern inputs, rural infrastructures and technologies for the benefit of small farmers in poor countries,” Diouf said. “Investing in Europe and Central Asia could help resolve hunger in other regions of the world. It was estimated that with sufficient investment, nearly 10 million hectares of arable land could be brought back into cultivation to grow grains and oilseeds in Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.”

Diouf, who launched a major international anti-hunger campaign, the “1billionhungry project”, to bring pressure on world leaders to pull a billion people out of hunger, said he is convinced that “together we can eliminate hunger from our planet.”

By the World Bank’s estimate, poverty in Armenia may reach 27,9% in 2010, as a consequence of the global financial crisis.