|
|
Local news
|
Local news
|
|
Monday, 27 August 2012 12:50 |
|
 The livestock sector in Armenia still faces challenges and to cope with those, most of the management practices need to be improved.
An idea to develop a Community Livestock Management Program (CLMP) was originated when PUM experts Mr. Robert Back and Mr. Wim de Jong were in Armenia in March of 2011. For the implementation of the pilot project, Sarnakunq community of the Syunik region was chosen to start with, as animal breeding and fieldwork are the main activities in the region.
In the scope of their July, 2012 visit, Mr. Back and Mr.de Jong along with CARD experts Arman Ohanyan, Levon Movsisyan and Tigran Gabrielyan met with Sarnakunq village Mayor Manuchar Mkrtchyan at Farm and Veterinary Service Center (FVSC) and discussed community pasture management issues and the project’s strategic plan. The experts together with Suren Vardanyan, manager of FVSC, also visited the nearby and remote pastures to investigate community grazing system and pasture conditions.
The research showed that the lack of good pasture practices, control measures and ineffective use of land have brought about a number of impacts among them: overgrazing, land degradation and soil erosion.
After the visits to the pastures and meeting with several farmers of Sarnakunq community, it was decided to develop a small-scale plan focusing on a rotational grazing trial, young stock grazing trial and pasture fertilization.
To have a yield increase in livestock sector, the productivity of natural pastures must be increased, and necessary measures of care must be applied. The trial of rotational or controlled grazing system will involve an intensely grazing portions of a pasture (paddocks) followed by a rest period which will allow the forage to grow again (recover). Such grazing schedule may as well help to eliminate parasites. Pasture rotation will supply the young stock with new and fresh roughage and the effect of contamination with parasites will be reduced through good nutrition.
Meanwhile, the experts acknowledge the fact that making a change in farmers’ thinking will be a quite challenging task as only few of them showed interest in CLMP. They are reluctant to accept alternative grazing schedule; use the manure of cattle as a fertilizer rather than means of heating, etc. Nevertheless, FVSC manager Suren Vardanyan will try to involve at least two progressive farmers in this project, with hopes of serving as a model to attract other farmers in the community.
Apart from having discussions on good agricultural practices, good veterinary practices were also discussed, most importantly the adequate use of antibiotics and the growing resistance against antibiotics and anti-parasitics in the world.
PUM experts will continue to provide their consultations to CARD experts for the successful implementation of the Community Livestock Management Program. |
|
|
Local news
|
|
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 10:23 |
|
 Since 2010, CARD has collaborated with Rijk Zwaan, a Dutch Company that develops new high-quality varieties of vegetables. The company continues to introduce new vegetable varieties to local greenhouse owners, as well as transfers new technologies , provides technological support and advice to vegetable producers.
On June 19-20, under the auspices of the USDA-supported project, Varietal Test of Cucumber and
Tomato Seeds, CARD hosted two specialists from Rijk Zwaan, Sergiy Vasylevskyy and Andrii Galaguria. During their stay in Armenia, Mr. Vasylevskyy and Mr. Galaguria conducted a seminar in Darakert community, in the Ararat region, for about 60 greenhouse farmers and owners, on the introduction of improved technologies and new tomato varieties Cinto Makhitos 667.
The specialists along with the farmers also visited neighboring trial plots where new varieties were sampled, as well as on-site consulting was provided to many greenhouse owners.
|
|
Local news
|
|
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 10:21 |
|
 For the first time in Armenia, CARD has introduced the LASA Agro modern portable laboratory to enable farmers to conduct soil, water and nitrate tests reliably and quickly in their greenhouses. The portable laboratory will help Armenian greenhouse farmers increase their production and efficiency, and is under the auspices of the USDA-funded “Effective Greenhouse Management” project. Beginning in June, as part of the project, a specialist from a German-based company STEP Systems GmbH, Mr. Pavel Shishkin, was invited to Armenia to conduct training on the use of the mobile laboratory.
The training was held on CARD premises and in the fields with the participation of young agronomists from Armenian State Agrarian University, greenhouse owners from the Ararat and Armavir regions, and CARD specialists.
The portable laboratory will be placed in Armen Simonyan’s trial plots in Darakert village, in Ararat marz, where the majority of farmers are involved in greenhouse farming. Mr. Simonyan, a fairly sophisticated greenhouse owner, has extensive experience in vegetable production and greenhouse farming.
He, along with the young agronomists, will provide consulting and mobile laboratory services to more than 300 farmers in the region by applying the “farmer to farmer” model for knowledge exchange.
The regular use of this laboratory will provide quality assurance for greenhouse production. Farmers will be able to perform regular checks of nitrates in soil, water and plant tissue samples which will ensure reliable production of vegetables, and in turn resulting in greater agricultural yields through more precise fertilization.
STEP Systems GmbH, an innovative company, deals with the development, production and distribution of portable analysis systems and tools, specially designed for the application of soil, water and air testing and monitoring. Long and extensive experience in the field of horticultural and agricultural soil and water analyses has made STEP Systems the leading company in this field.
|
|
|
|
|
Page 8 of 25 |
|
|
Quick Links
|
