The RA Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan held a meeting with the representatives of the milk processing companies to discuss current issues facing the industry. The meeting was attended by Khachatur Poghosyan, the president of the Union of Dairy Producers of Armenia.

 

“Agricultural development cannot be imagined without the processing sector, but there are still serious problems in this sector, especially in matters relating to procurement, which need an immediate solution,” the Minister Sergo Karapetyan said in his speech.

 

In this context, the Minister attached importance to the right organization of procurement process and after performing appropriate calculations the reasonable definition of the minimum price of milk, which will be beneficial for procurement organizations and business subjects.

 

Meanwhile, the Minister stressed the need for diversification of dairy products, particularly the range of cheese products that will be in high demand in the Eurasian Economic Union market.

 

Referring to the fulfillment of commitments of farm households for the procured milk, the Minister also urged to ensure the implementation of payments for procured milk as soon as possible.

 

Informing that over 150 cooperatives have already been established in the country within the framework of the “Community Agricultural Resource Management and Competitiveness” (CARMAC) Project, the Minister stressed that the government support programs will be directed to the development and expansion of the cooperatives. In this context, the Minister proposed the processing companies to actively cooperate with those cooperatives by signing the necessary contracts with them.

 

The Minister presented the participants the exemplary form of contracts of the current year for the organization of milk procurement, according to which the threshold and payment terms of milk price will be fixed. The exemplary form of contracts has been reviewed by a number of departments and will be submitted to the Government for approval.

 

The representatives, in turn, presented their concerns and expressed confidence that it will be possible to find solutions to those issues with the joint efforts with the Ministry of Agriculture.

 

 

Division of Information and Public Relations of

the RA Ministry of Agriculture

 

 

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