Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development Foundation

“Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center of Armenia” (SME DNC) Fund and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Enterprise Development and Market Competitiveness (EDMC) project, in the framework of the “Support to Dried Fruit Production” joint initiative, on April 18^th, held an introduction event at the Best Western Congress Hotel on the modern fruit drying technologies and quality standards for local dried fruit producing companies. The event was attended by the representatives from CARD Foundation, World Vision Armenia and Agricultural pact.

“There is a big potential in dried fruit production sector for product marketing and export in Armenia, if the producers follow the fruit and vegetable post-harvest drying rules  in compliance with international quality standards”, mentioned SME DNC Executive Director Varazdat Karapetyan in his opening remarks. The SME DNC Fund and its local and foreign partners are eager to support the Armenian dried fruit producers in contributing to the sector development and increasing the export volumes,” added Mr. Karapetyan.

In support of USAID, an expert had been invited from Italy who developed necessary quality standards for fruit drying in Armenia. “From now on, we will have to differentiate high, medium and low quality dried fruits. The producers will as well know the quality of their produce and be stronger in the market”, said Mr. Varazdat Karapetyan.

According to him, several local dried fruit producing companies exported some tons of dried fruit last year. At present, the current possibilities are being compiled to ensure fruit drying becomes one of export branches in Armenia. Nearly 60 dried fruit producers from the Ararat, Armavir, Tavush and the Meghri regions have already been involved in the projects for 2013. Four parallel projects are as well being implemented. For coming two years, it is planned to increase the quantity, volumes, reach the high quality, establish storage units and enhance export possibilities.

“It is quite welcoming that CARD Foundation is involved in this process and imports modern fruit drying technologies”, added Mr. Karapetyan.

Through the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) funds, CARD supports the farmers of the Meghri region in fruit production and marketing. Dried fruit production is paid much attention too. A research was conducted as a result of which it turned out that the sun drying technologies quite often fail to work due to unfavorable weather conditions. For the first time in Armenia, CARD imported electric and gas fruit dryers and it can be said that today, dried fruit production capacities have considerably increased which was made possible through the application of new equipments and technologies. Nowadays, the apricot is being dried within 20-24 hours, but previously this took up to 5-6 days. In addition, from sanitary point of view, the fruits dried in electric and gas dryers are very clean and exempt from dust, which is not the case in sun drying technologies.

EDMC international expert Ruggero Malossi, who has nearly 25 years of experience in food and beverage production, processing and packaging, talked about the dried fruit production and development perspectives in Armenia and highlighted that in general the quality is good, but as a matter of fact, the sanitary conditions are not good, neither is the packaging. Worth to mention that Ruggero Malossi,  along with SME DNC specialists, has cooperated with local producers for the provision of necessary criteria to apply international quality standards and has trained 17 dried fruit producers. The expert has also developed models, made offers for product marketing conditions and standards, developed a manual on dried fruit production and proposed to establish a Center for fruit drying.

On April 4-5, in cooperation with the “Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development” (CARD) Foundation and financial support of the “Austrian Development Cooperation” (ADC), Heifer International Georgia, within the framework of the “Animal Health Management in Cross-Border Areas of Armenia and Georgia” project, held a joint workshop for the Armenian and the Georgian veterinarians in “Borjomis Kheoba” hotel of Borjomi, Georgia.  The workshop was aimed at raising awareness on private veterinary business management, main principles and aspects of successful performance of veterinary services.

The workshop was conducted by Mr. Andris Zalitis, the veterinary-surgeon of the “Vidzemes Veterinaries Service”, Latvia.  Ten veterinarians from each target region, as well as CARD and ADC representatives, Heifer Georgia staff and other representatives from local governmental and non-governmental organizations attended the workshop.

The first session was focused on the private veterinary business development opportunities appeared to be of great interest to the participants. Status, value and role of newly-created veterinary service units, raising trust factor between veterinary associations and farmers through providing high-quality veterinary services were discussed. The trainer drew parallel between veterinary service development in Latvia during 1992-2012 and present situation of Georgia and Armenia, and discussed the issues in historical context. He emphasized the relationship between veterinarian and farmer, awareness raising, skills improvement and self-development of the veterinary specialists. Mr. Zalitis explained the structure, characteristics and nuances of the performance of veterinary organization and brought examples from Latvia on successful livestock management resulted in considerable growth of milk yield in the past decade.

The second session of the workshop covered the issues of control and prevention of calf diseases, where prerequisites for successful raising of heifers and timely disease prevention were discussed. The participants brought examples from their own veterinary practice and talked about the similarities and differences in approaches and the treatment methods. The importance of colostrum and its nutritional value were as well highlighted. The veterinarians shared their knowledge and expertise on calving process, complex delivery, situation assessment and decision making. Much attention was paid to the calf diseases treatment (E.coli, Rota virus, Corona virus, Cryptosporidiosis, Clostridium perfingens, Coccidiosis, Salmonellas, nasal infection, Pneumonia) and their prevention. Upon the end of the sessions, the economic aspects and criteria of successful raising of heifers were talked about.

The participants found the workshop successful and essential output of the project, building capacities of the Armenian and Georgian veterinarians and creating a sustainable network for effective livestock management in cross-border regions of Armenia and Georgia. It was an evidence of timely intervention and efficient synergy of efforts of all participating parties. Another important outcome of the joint workshop was the establishment of networking among Armenian and Georgian veterinarians. At the end, the participants also listed topics of their interest for future discussions.

On behalf of Armenian and Georgian veterinarians, CARD foundation and Heifer Georgia express sincere gratitude to Austrian Development Agency for the financial and technical assistance to promote livestock sector development practices in Armenia and Georgia.