Armenia Development
Project, 1992-2004
Starting in the early 1990s, the International Programs
office of CSREES worked in partnership with the Armenian
agricultural sector for more than a decade. In the early
years, the project focused on the development of an applied
research and extension capacity, helping to ease the transition
to a free market economy.
The focus of the Marketing
Assistance Project (MAP), begun in 1996, was to assist
Armenian farmers and agribusinesses in producing, marketing,
and exporting food and related products with the goal of
increasing incomes, creating jobs, and raising the standard
of living.
In 2000, International Programs facilitated the establishment
of the Agribusiness Teaching
Center through a cooperative agreement with Texas A&M
University and the Armenia Agricultural Academy in Yerevan.
The ongoing agribusiness degree program provides Armenia
's future agricultural producers and entrepreneurs with competitive
skills in international marketing, finance, management, computers,
and language.
The Marketing Assistance Project provided a “package” of
technical, financial, and marketing assistance to agribusinesses,
farmer marketing associations, and cooperatives. The long-term
relationships that were established with Armenian clients
in the agro-processing sector were one of the distinguishing
features that led to project success. By 2002, the nearly
60 MAP client groups represented a wide array of dairy, fruit,
vegetable, meat, poultry, wine, and beverage producers and
processors.
Management oversight of the Armenia program was transferred
in 2005 to USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).
For more information on completed USDA-MAP activities, please
contact the CSREES International Programs Office at 202-720-3801.
For more information on USDA's current work in Armenia,
please visit the Foreign
Agricultural Service Web site or call 202-690-1924.
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