Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today visited the Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD) Foundation. The CARD manager briefed the Premier on CARD’s ongoing activities. Later on a consultation was held to discuss the programs implemented by the Foundation, which is comprised of 6 organizations specialized in agriculture and 19 centers of agricultural services.

CARD is engaged in agricultural development programs, which mainly focus on livestock, milk production and processing, winemaking, mechanization services, vegetable and fruit growing, as well as hothouse development. Recent initiatives include programs aimed at pigs and goats breeding. The Foundation coordinates 19 agricultural service centers in the Republic of Armenia, created to make high quality agricultural inputs, services, knowledge and information available in the regions.

The service centers are specialized in the following areas: cattle breeding and veterinary medicine, pig breeding, winemaking and viticulture, greenhouse production, open-field vegetable growing, fruit-growing, cattle breeding. The centers also provide farmers with modern agriculture-related knowledge and advice. 250 specialists have so far been trained under the program.

Welcoming the Foundation’s initiatives, Prime Minister Pashinyan stressed the need for disseminating modern farming skills across the country. He highlighted the works carried out by the Foundation to expand the above-mentioned centers.

The Premier instructed Deputy Minister of Economy Artak Kamalyan to continue cooperating with the Foundation in matters related to dissemination of knowledge needed to organize modern agriculture in order to develop a program for popularization of farming skills.