YEREVAN. – An 8-9-percent agricultural growth is expected in Armenia by the year’s end, Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan stated during a press conference on Thursday. 

Presenting the results for the first six months of this year, Karapetyan said there are significant improvements. Specifically, the agricultural products increased by 8.1 percent in January-June 2012, as compared with the same time period in the year past.  

Also, crops increased by 28 percent, livestock grew by 2 percent, and pisciculture went up by 25.2 percent. 

There is a particularly great success in apricot collection. A total of 13,300 tons of apricot are already exported, as compared with the 7,300 tons of last year. And they will still be collected for 10-15 days. The local purchasing companies have already bought 6,150 tons of apricot, as compared with the 2,830 tons of the year past.         

A high number of grape, peach and apple crops are expected, too. And the sole problem is connected with the grain crops, yet gross harvest is up by 4-5 percent.