Construction works are underway to restore the road leading to remote pastures and grasslands of Debed settlement of Pambak consolidated community. Through contribution of "Living Landscapes for Market Development in Armenia" (LILA) project, the abandoned, dangerous and impassable road will become accessible to SUVs and trucks.
Ashot Papinyan from Debed village is involved in the ground works. He told EcoLur that the worst parts of the twenty-kilometer-long road are leveled now.
"The mudslides destroyed the road: there were ups and down all along the road, which needed to be evened out. It was cleared from trees and bushes growing in the middle of the road due to the disuse. We work in segments: we dig the stony ground, fill the impassable pits. The road is becoming wider and straighter," he said.
According to him, the improvement of the road is very important for their settlement. "Most of the families in the village keep livestock, for many families the money received from cattle breeding is the main source of income," Ashot Papinyan noted.
Anush Sargsyan, the village mayor of Debed, in her interview with Ecolur, emphasized the importance of agriculture development projects for the local residents.
"Our region has a great potential for tourism with its beautiful nature. But villagers cannot live on tourism, they can have seasonal jobs in tourism. The development of the agricultural sector is the most important issue. We want to keep people in the villages, so that they can get engaged in agricultural activities. This project is very important, because no matter how much inputs we have, if we do not have a well-maintained road and the right knowledge of farming, which we receive through the courses conducted within the framework of this project, we will not achieve the desired result," she noted.
Last year, we received a grant of 850,000 AMD with the support of “Promotion of Eco-Corridors in the Southern Caucasus" -II project. With that money we decided to renovate the old, abandoned road which is shorter than the one we used to use. The beginning of the road was constructed with that money. With support of the LILA project, we are also renovating the remaining fragments of the road. But continuous rains and mudslides have destroyed our work. Along with digging, leveling and paving the drainage systems should be also built in some areas so that puddles do not form and water does not destroy the road.”
According to Anush Sargsyan, the number of farmers using remote pastures will increase as a result of the shortening of the road.
Climate change has also taken a toll on rural economies. "Newly developing agriculture suffers great losses, wheat fields are damaged, the roads are damaged by hail and flood All this can be disappointing: the farmer does not see his benefit because of the growing costs. Implementation of climate change adaptation measures is very important. I do value the introduction of the forecasting method: people should be aware of what is going to happen and what to expect from the weather. One of the solutions of combatting extreme weather events is through using advanced technologies, but there are no anti-hail stations in our settlement," Anush Sargsyan outlined.
“Promotion of Eco-Corridors in the Southern Caucasus"-II project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW Bank.
Living Landscapes for Market Development in Armenia (LILA) is a seven-year project funded by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Caucasus and Armenian offices in collaboration with Strategic Development Agency (SDA) NGO.
August 16, 2024 at 13:52