Acting Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia Ignati Arakelyan was on a two-day visit to Syunik region. The purpose of the visit was to discuss current issues in agriculture and to present new ministry programs and initiatives with the region sector officials and farmers.

Ignati Arakelyan went to a "soft" chinchilla breeding farm. Since 2015 the breeding farm has had 40-50 animals, and the number has gradually increased, and by the end of April it is planned to import about 2,000 animals. Chinchila imported from Denmark and Poland, quickly adjust to the climate of Armenia, are easy to maintain and do not require great care. According to Mher Mirzoyan, the fur is now in the process of production, the final product will appear in the market in 2-3 months. "We have arrangements for consumption mainly with Canada, Poland and Denmark whose demand is in large quantities," Mher Mirzoyan said, adding that there are also product sales agreements in the local market.

On the second day of the visit, the Acting Minister visited a number of companies belonging to "Lamax Group" LLC to get acquainted with the plant's products, current capacities and upcoming programs.

"Lamax Group" LLC is composed of "Marila" and "Vamax" companies, it also has a small-scale animal slaughterhouse and a pig farm, and sells its products in "Syuniki barikner " chain stores and big supermarkets. Director Alyosha Mkrtchyan emphasizes that dairy products are produced exclusively from pure milk; dry milk is not used in the production process at all. The duration of the company's dairy products preservation is very short, sales are organized in Syunik region and Yerevan, and in the last month also in Artsakh. They have no problems with consumption. The demand for dairy products cannot be fully satisfied, so they try to increase production volumes, milk yields and other measures.

The company works with a closed chain. They use exclusively milk and meat from their own production to process recycled products, providing traceability of the products, safety and sanitary hygienic standards are strictly maintained. "Vamax" Company has about 800 large cattle simantal breed animals.. The director notes that the prime cost of their products is high because they use high quality raw material. In this context, he highlighted the importance of labeling, which would make their products more competitive.

Ignaty Arakelyan informed that the ministry plans to launch a new leasing program, which will enable to purchase new livestock and milk processing equipment, expressing conviction that small farmers who want to use cattle breeding will be able to get high quality milk and "Marilya" company, which is currently working in a closed chain, will also buy from farmers.

He also added that Syunik region was provided with wheat seeds and good results are expected.

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