During his three-day visit to Armenia FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, underscored how the country boasts robust environmental resources that can be harnessed to improve rural incomes and farmers’ livelihoods, with agroforestry initiatives offering special promise.
“Farmers have two main bosses, the economy and the environment,” Qu said during a visit to a FAO-supported forestry nursery programme near Hrazdan.
“Balance is important.”Fostering healthy forests can allow for improved household incomes and a better environment, in line with the Four Betters - better production, better nutrition, better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
Armenia’s Deputy Environment Minister Aram Meymaryan accompanied the FAO delegation on the visit.Armenia is one of the 35 global biodiversity hotspots, and the country’s forests are among the most threatened ecosystems in temperate biomes.
FAO has an eight-year project, its first Green Climate Fund project in Europe and Central Asia, aimed at improving forest resilience in the country.
Since Armenia became a FAO Member in 1993, FAO has successfully partnered with the Government and other important national actors in a number of areas and today has dozens of projects underway, ranging from work on the genetics of Armenia’s legendary grapes and apricots to school-feeding initiatives.
On Monday, the Director-General, accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Economy Arman Khojoyan and Hrachya Zaqoyan, Acting Rector of Armenia National Agrarian University, addressed first-year students, outlining the collaboration between FAO and the country and emphasizing the importance of science, innovation and digital technologies in transforming agrifood systems and addressing the complexities of modern agriculture.
FAO is working with the University’s soil-testing lab, focusing on soil decarbonization and enhanced data availability through the RECSOIL initiative, and would look forward to deepening collaboration with the University, the country’s premier agrarian higher education institution.
The Director-General then travelled to the Ararat region to inspect a school-feeding programme FAO supports, which includes a greenhouse as well as fruit drying activities.He later visited a vineyard supported by the Vineyard Registration System.
FAO has a long history of engagement with efforts to revitalize the country’s 8,000-year-old viticulture sector, which boasts a host of indigenous varietals, many of which however are at risk of extinction. "For the advancement of wine production in the country, it is crucial to focus on the genetic evaluation of grape varieties," Qu said.
