Akhuryan village – In the framework of FAO implemented “Technical assistance to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia for European Neighbourhood Partnership agriculture and rural development” (ENPARD) project the regular session of the training related to the necessity and importance of agricultural cooperatives, as well as their principles and economic benefits, was held today, with participation of John Barker, International Aid/Cooperation Officer, Delegation of the European Union to Armenia, other stakeholders.

Participants of today’s training were groups from Shirak marz, who are interested in buckwheat production. The mentioned groups are supported by the other component of ENPARD programme - "Producer Group and Value Chain Development” technical support project implemented by UNIDO/UNDP. The objective of this component is to support the groups and cooperatives engaged in agricultural production by involving them in value chain development.
Due to the trainings organized in all ten marzes of Armenia the farmers will learn how to develop their businesses with the help of agricultural cooperatives and will receive answers to the following questions: What is a cooperative? What are the principles of cooperatives? What are the benefits? How to form an agricultural cooperative? How is a cooperative managed? And much more. A total of 50 seminars are planned to be held in all 10 marzes of Armenia. More than 1000 farmers – a third of them women – will receive training. Cooperative training seminars started in September and will run through the end of November.

EU has allocated 25 million euros for implementation of ENPARD in Armenia, of which 20 million will be provided to the Government of Armenia as a direct budget support for sustainable and comprehensive development of agriculture and rural communities, and 5 million – as additional support. 

As a part of additional support the EU has requested FAO to provide technical assistance in several areas, including sustainable use and management of agricultural produce and natural resources.