Final workshop of Technical Cooperation Project “Development of open air food retail markets in Armenia” was organized by the FAO and the RA Ministry of Agriculture. The objective of the Project is to help in creating enabling environment for efficient functioning of the farm produce marketing system and equitable farmers’ access to retail markets.
The final project workshop was organized to present implemented Project activities and the National Plan of Action for the development of the fresh farm produce marketing system, as well as to propose and adopt recommendations for development of farmers’ markets after the Project closure. The workshop was opened by Mr Robert Makaryan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, National Project Coordinator, and Ms Gayane Nasoyan, Assistant FAO Representative in Armenia. They emphasized the importance of the Project outcome and its significance for our country and for farmers in particular.
The workshop was attended by 40 participants coming from different stakeholder groups involved in agricultural development. Technical support to the workshop was provided by FAO lead international and national experts. They presented the main Project achievements, issues and lessons learnt. In particular, the Project supported establishment of the pilot farmers’ market. The Project also developed capacities of supporting institutions to provide relevant services and information for farmers’ participation in farmers’ markets.
National Plan of Action for the development of the fresh farm produce marketing system was presented by Mr Pascal Bernardoni, International Consultant in Value Chain Development. The National Plan of Action aims framing the measures the Government of the Republic of Armenia should put in place in order to develop an effective fresh farm produce marketing system. The ultimate objective of such system should be value chains that supply affordable quality and safe food to consumers, while rewarding farmers and the other stakeholders adding value to the final product with fair prices.
The project supported the efforts of the Government of Armenia is implementing measures to remove inefficiencies of marketing system caused by inappropriate institutional arrangements and the lack of capacity in design and management of open air farm retail markets. In that context presented National Plan of Action could be used as a roadmap for the Government of the Republic of Armenia and in particularly the Ministry of Agriculture, but also to the different value chains stakeholders to help them to identify what must be done to better position their produces on the market.