YEREVAN. – Despite the adverse weather and the nature’s “surprises,” agriculture in Armenia can be considered successful this year, Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan told Yerkir Media TV.    

In the minister’s words, due to this year’s adverse weather conditions, people have the impression that there will be no crops in Armenia this year.

“There are hailstorms in our country every year. It’s just that this year the frequency [of the hailstorms] and the geographical scope of the hail-hit areas was larger,” Karapetyan noted.   

“We certainly had losses, too,” the minister confessed adding that this refers to the spring frosts, as they caused great damage especially to the apricot trees. 

“We had a gross harvest of 88,500 tons of apricots last year, but this indicator totals 12-13,000 tons this year. [In addition,] we had 21,000 tons less in the volumes of export,” Sergo Karapetyan stated.