Armenia has 486,000 hectares of arable land, about 16 percent of the
country's total area. In 1991 Armenia imported about 65 percent of its food.
About 10 percent of the work force, which is predominantly urban, is employed in
agriculture, which in 1991 provided 25.7 percent of the country's NMP. In 1990
Armenia became the first Soviet republic to pass a land privatization law, and
from that time Armenian farmland shifted into the private sector at a faster
rate than in any other republic. However, the rapidity and disorganization of
land reallocation led to disputes and dissatisfaction among the peasants
receiving land. Especially problematic were allocation of water rights and
distribution of basic materials and equipment. Related enterprises such as food
processing and hothouse operations often remained in state hands, reducing the
advantages of private landholding.
By 1992 privatization of the state and collective farms, which had dominated
Armenian agriculture in the Soviet period, had put 63 percent of cultivated
fields, 80 percent of orchards, and 91 percent of vineyards in the hands of
private farmers. The program yielded a 15 percent increase in agricultural
output between 1990 and 1991. In 1993 the government ended restrictions on the
transfer of private land, a step expected to increase substantially the average
size (and hence the efficiency) of private plots. At the end of 1993, an
estimated 300,000 small farms (one to five hectares) were operating. In that
year, harvests were bountiful despite the high cost of inputs; only the
disastrous state of Armenia's transportation infrastructure prevented relief of
food shortages in urban centers.
Agriculture is carried out mainly in the valleys and mountainsides of
Armenia's uneven terrain, with the highest mountain pastures used for livestock
grazing. Fertile volcanic soil allows cultivation of wheat and barley as well as
pasturage for sheep, goats, and horses. With the help of irrigation, figs,
pomegranates, cotton, apricots, and olives also are grown in the limited
subtropical Aras River valley and in the valleys north of Erevan, where the
richest farmland is found. Armenia also produces peaches, walnuts, and quince,
and its cognac enjoys a worldwide reputation.
Irrigation is required by most crops, and the building of canals and a system
of irrigation was among the first major state projects of the Soviet republic in
the 1920s. By the 1960s, arable land had been extended by 20 percent, compared
with pre-Soviet times. Most farms had electricity by the early 1960s, and
machinery was commonplace. In the Soviet era, women made up most of the
agricultural work force; a large percentage of the younger men had responded to
the Soviet industrialization campaign by migrating to urban centers. In 1989
farms were operating about 13,400 tractors and 1,900 grain and cotton combines.
The principal agricultural products are grains (mostly wheat and barley),
potatoes, vegetables, grapes, berries, cotton, sugar beets, tobacco, figs, and
olives. In 1989 Armenia produced 200,000 tons of grain, 266,000 tons of
potatoes, 485,000 tons of vegetables, 117,000 tons of sugar beets, 170,000 tons
of fruit, 119,000 tons of grapes, 105,000 tons of meat, 491,000 tons of milk,
and 561,000 tons of eggs
Agriculture is carried out mainly in the valleys and mountainsides of
Armenia's uneven terrain, with the highest mountain pastures used for livestock
grazing. Fertile volcanic soil allows cultivation of wheat and barley as well as
pasturage for sheep, goats, and horses. With the help of irrigation, figs,
pomegranates, cotton, apricots, and olives also are grown in the limited
subtropical Aras River valley and in the valleys north of Erevan, where the
richest farmland is found. Armenia also produces peaches, walnuts, and quince,
and its cognac enjoys a worldwide reputation.
Irrigation is required by most crops, and the building of canals and a system
of irrigation was among the first major state projects of the Soviet republic in
the 1920s. By the 1960s, arable land had been extended by 20 percent, compared
with pre-Soviet times. Most farms had electricity by the early 1960s, and
machinery was commonplace. In the Soviet era, women made up most of the
agricultural work force; a large percentage of the younger men had responded to
the Soviet industrialization campaign by migrating to urban centers. In 1989
farms were operating about 13,400 tractors and 1,900 grain and cotton combines.
