As part of "Living Landscapes of Armenia for Market Development" (LILA) project, pasture management plans were developed for the beneficiary settlements. Beneficiary settlements of the project are from Lori, Tavush, Syunik and Vayots Dzor Regions.
The Living Landscapes of Armenia for Market Development (LILA) project is implemented by WWF Armenia in collaboration with the Strategic Development Agency (SDA) NGO. The project is funded by the Swiss government through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Gagik Tovmasyan, Head of Department of Crop Production and Soil Science of the National Agrarian University of Armenia, is involved in the development of pasture management plans as an expert. In his interview with EcoLur, he said that the main support within the program is aimed at the proper management of natural landscapes. "Studies are carried out in the target communities in the areas of natural fodder. Their ecological and production status was inventoried and evaluated. Within the framework of the project, for the degraded areas identified as a result of the inventory, we will develop complex rehabilitation measures to organize improvement. The public should be shown how to restore the state damaged by degradation with artificial interventions," he noted.
According to Gagik Tovmasyan, within the framework of LILA project, in order to ensure access to pastures and to implement sustainable management procedures, works are being carried out to improve the infrastructure network, in particular, to solve the problem of irrigation of pastures, to build new watering places for animals, to improve roads and to build shelters for access to remote pastures . "All these actions are aimed at ensuring the protection of landscape vegetation, sustainable management of biodiversity and protection of ecosystems, which will create prerequisites for developing the economy and improving people's lifestyle," he noted.
According to Gagik Tovmasyan, pastures in Armenia occupy 1,050,000 hectares, natural grasslands - 121,700 hectares. However, the productivity of pasture areas does not solve the problem of pasture feed for livestock in the country. “Due to accessibility, infrastructure issues, some areas are either not used at all or are underutilized. In the case of small farms, the use of remote pastures is not technically and economically justified," he said.
The expert added that the grazing areas used are mostly communal and have been degraded due to overuse. "Productivity, yield and harvest quality indicators in the formed fodder fields are extremely low. This directly affects the food yield of animals, particularly milk yield. This in turn leads to social problems," he said.
According to him, anthropogenic degradation is more dangerous. "The level of degradation in Armenia is quite high . According to various estimates, around 80% of pastures in the administrative territory of Armenia are degraded to varying degrees. Remote pastures are degraded by natural degradation. Having not been used properly for years, the vegetation in these areas has gone into forced senescence. "Man-made degradation is the result of irregular management or overuse," he noted.
The expert noted that the increase in temperature and the reduction of the humidity index aggravate the condition of such threatened ecosystems even more. "As a result, we have a serious problem, especially on the slopes. Degradation of the vegetation leads to the processes of erosion and disintegration of the soil," he emphasized.
Touching upon the problems of field management, Gagik Tovmasyan mentioned. "Previously, in the field of plant breeding, we had sowing areas with different types of fodder, food and technical significance. Now there is a problem with the cultivation of arable land in the field of agriculture, which is caused by a number of factors: insufficient amount of agricultural machinery, lack of quality seed material, land fragmentation. In the case of fragmented lands, it is not possible to develop high-quality farming, because the implementation of crop rotation by a private entrepreneur becomes a problem. The productivity of the unit area of the land has been reduced, which has become the reason for the cultivation of land with a limited area. There are operational arable lands that have not been cultivated for 30 years or more. This is very dangerous for the country. I think it's time to take serious steps in this direction and show proper attitude," he said.
March 25, 2024 at 12:38