YEREVAN. - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has prepared a plowless land tillage program for Armenia.
Agriculture specialist of FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Avetik Nersisyan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News – NEWS.am.
Such cultivation protects the soil from erosion and loss of microflora, as well as water evaporation and disappearance of useful elements. In his words, depending on the solidity of the soil and crops grown there, the soil can be turned up to minimal depth or not do that at all. ''Of course, in a number of cases it is impossible to do without plowing, for instance in case of potato. But in many [other] cases the preservation methods are possible,'' Nersisyan said.
For example, the ''zero plowing'' method was not used in Kazakhstan in 2001, whereas now about 2 million ha is cultivated by that method in the north of the country. The subsidies provided to innovative farmers since 2006 largely contributed to this.
The program offers training of farmers and agricolists, as well as demonstrative cultivation in different provinces of the country. ''The project costs $1,7 million but, unfortunately, FAO cannot provide these funds. Thus, in the near future we will present the program to the Armenian Government and with their agreement also to private donors,'' Nersisyan said.
