President Serzh Sargsyan visits Kotayk Marz

On September 19 accompanied by RA officials in charge of agriculture and by the heads of Kotayk’s local and territorial administration bodies, Serzh Sargsyan familiarized himself with the modernly-equipped fruit-bearing gardens of Kovkasfood in Alpars. The gardens are expected to ensure high yields which will raise the effectiveness of agricultural production and will allow applying the successful practice in other marzes in the future.

The Armenian president was presented the investments made by the company, the completed works and the upcoming territorial development programs. According to the executives, an investment of about 700 million drams has been made. It is expected to invest another 200 million drams from 2016 to 2018.

Proceeding from climatic conditions and the quality of land, the company has founded 29.3 hectare walnut-tree and apple-tree gardens on a 35.4 hectare leasehold piece of land, where the apple-trees occupy a 9.2 hectare, and the walnut-trees 20.1 hectare area. It is cultivated through new technologies: a modern automatic irrigation system and an anti-hail system have been installed (the garden has been enclosed).

The land works started in October 2014, and the tree planting was carried out from March to April 2015. As a result of these works, the apple-trees and walnut-trees will reach their full potential respectively in the 4th year (40 tones from one hectare) and in the 7th year (seven tones from one hectare).

According to the executives of Kovkasfood, for current gardening and preservation activities the company presently employs 10 permanent workers with an average monthly salary of 150,000 AMD. During the seasonal works, it is expected to employ additional 30-50 workers with an average monthly salary of 120,000 AMD.