Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Wheat Seed-Breeding Program Takes Effect
Armenia is taking revolutionary steps in the wheat seed-breeding field: the wheat seed-breeding and seed-production program turned up on the list of government priorities last year which implies a dramatic growth in the output of this crop up to 340-350 thousand tons a year by 2014 making of Armenia a self-sufficient country in this area.
Evoking the aforementioned program at the August 4 Cabinet sitting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated in part: “Those decisions usher in an unprecedented step in the field of seed-breeding. We thereby seek to reach the mark of 27-30 thousand tons of first-reproduction elite seeds produced annually in Armenia for which the State is spending unprecedented amounts.
We will continue importing premium-quality seeds from Russia during the year. Besides, we are prepared to buy some 800 tons of elite seeds from our 15 seed-breeding companies. Obviously such an impressive rise in government investments is due to bring about drastic changes in this sphere in the long run.
Moreover, the program has a social component as we seek to enhance the quality of seeds by providing first-reproduction seeds to such domestic farmers as have cultivation areas of 3 hectares and over.
As you know, barley seeds have already been provided to some 15 thousand farms nationwide. Building on this initiative, twice as many seeds will be made available to small entities during this fall campaign.
Yesterday we made an arrangement with marz governors over these premium-quality seeds surrender mechanisms. Like we did last year, farmers will get the seeds free of charge at this stage provided they should return them to the State at an anticipated price of 80 dram per kilogram once the crop is out.
Also, as you may remember, our concept consisted in providing our farmers with high-quality seeds at a price far below the cost of seed imports which was about 1 dollar per kilogram. As a matter of fact, we thereby subsidized this sphere in a bid to enhance seed-breeding efficiency in Armenia.
We will get the seeds back at AMD 160 per kilogram while they cost us 2.5-3 times as much. After all, we are striving to achieve a breakthrough in this field by raising the quality of seeds and making up for the shortfall of international standards in terms of output we suffered during the past 20 years due to the bad quality of seeds.
Tangible results are to be seen as early as by this yearend since ever new lots of elite seeds come accessible to thousands of farmers. State budget funds are used for both getting elite seed breeds from abroad and having high-quality ones back from 15 licensed entities.”
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, under the aforementioned program 1010.1 tons of elite seeds were imported from Russia last fall, with 50 tons made available to the government of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and 9.15 tons out for test-grading purposes. 30 new sorts of premium-quality seeds are currently being tested by different seed-breeding entities nationwide.
The balance of over 950 tons went to 115 farming entities covering a cultivation area of 3169.9 ha.
This year again, 4 new best-performing sorts of elite winter crops are due to be imported from the Russian Federation for test-grading purposes.
The government planned to buy 500 tons of seeds to domestic seed-breeders, though as stated by the Ministry of Agriculture, only 117 tons of seeds have been purchased for lack of stocks available with Armenian seed-breeders. Those 117 tons were given to 31 farmers providing they ensure a 1:2 return on the seeds so delivered. A total of 2134 tons of first-reproduction seeds is expected back from the farmers by this yearend.
To coordinate work on seed returns, the task force of the Ministry of Agriculture has held consultations in the provinces. Farmers are due to return some 2900 tons of first-reproduction seeds this fall to be made available to economic entities for sowing over an area of 3 hectares.
Under the sustainable seed-breeding development program, 800 and 900 tons of elite seeds will be procured respectively from the Russian Stavropol region and Armenian seed-breeders in 2011 to cover an area of 5660 ha. The seeds so procured will be distributed among land owners under the same conditions as stipulated in the program. The surplus of reproduced seeds shall be handled at economic entities’ discretion.
According to Ministry of Agriculture estimates, 3400 tons of redeemed seeds will be handed over to marz administrations in 2012 to help expand crop areas by 11330 hectares.
Also read the following related articles:
Drastic Changes In Seed-Breeding Industry
Systemic Rural Development Programm Discussed
Prime Minister Visits SPAYKA Company
Elite Seeds Put Out Shoots
